Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Taped Child Rape Case; Hamburger Recall; Memphis Student Shot
Aired October 01, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Watch events coming into the NEWSROOM live on Monday October 1st.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Nevada police trying to find a man accused in the videotaped rape of a 3-year-old girl. His former girlfriend speaking out this morning.
Pass on the patty. Millions of pounds of frozen hamburger facing recall today.
And they followed Latino laborers in New Orleans. Now one community wants the taco trucks to hit the road.
"Uncovering America" in the NEWSROOM.
Revelations this morning about an accused child rapist. Police say Chester Stiles videotaped a brutal attack on a 3-year-old. The little girl, now 7, is safe. The manhunt for Stiles, though, still on.
Dan Simon live now from Las Vegas with the latest on this.
Dan, I know you talked with Stiles' former girlfriend.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Heidi. The woman we talked to, her name is Tina Allen. And she says she's actually the reason why Chester Stiles came to even know this little girl.
She said she never saw Stiles act inappropriately around children. Nonetheless, she says she feels a tremendous amount of guilt, what happened.
Let me explain how this relationship came to be.
Allen says two of her children shared an apartment, and also living in that apartment was this little girl and her mother. She says that this man, Chester Stiles, was very much a father figure to the family.
This is how she described him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TINA ALLEN, SUSPECT'S FMR. GIRLFRIEND: He said he had been in the Navy and, you know, I was looking for a strong guy to represent to my sons what I thought they needed to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Well, obviously, you can imagine what's going through Tina Allen's mind today. Let me explain what's happening today.
Obviously, there is a tremendous manhunt going on. The Las Vegas police looking for Chester Stiles.
Chester Stiles, according to Tina Allen, showed up at Tina Allen's house last week. He apparently came for a friendly chat.
She says she didn't notice any strange behavior coming from him. He didn't appear to be nervous in any way, but this was before he was named a suspect in this case. But one thing she did note, his hair, Heidi, appeared to be much longer and he also appeared to have put on a lot of weight and a lot of muscle -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Yes.
What about, Dan, the man who turned that tape over to police in the first place? His name, Darren Tuck. He turned himself in, correct?
SIMON: He turned himself in over the weekend. Obviously, a strange case there.
He says he basically found this tape in the desert some time ago and just decided to turn it in. Obviously, authorities are suspicious of his story. They wanted to talk to him again, debrief him and see if there may be a connection between him and Chester Stiles -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right.
CNN's Dan Simon working this story for us.
All right, Dan. Thank you.
We want to move on now to the very latest with the weather situation. Jacqui Jeras is following all of this for us and joins us now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: A major hamburger recall to tell you about. Nearly 22 million pounds of frozen meat pulled. Possibly E. coli illnesses now in eight different states.
CNN's Jim Acosta is following the story for us. He's joining us live from New York now.
Jim, you're at a grocery store there, as we can see behind you. How much is this really affecting consumers?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's affecting consumers big time, Heidi. Many supermarkets didn't start pulling these Topps frozen hamburgers until they heard about this recall over the weekend. But Topps may have known about this potential contamination for weeks.
The recall was announced last week, but it was expanded over the weekend, prompting stores nationwide to start clearing their inventories of this product. But a south Florida girl says she was sickened and sent to the hospital and nearly died after eating a Topps frozen hamburger that her family bought at a Wal-Mart store a month and a half ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMANTHA SAFRANEK, FMR. PATIENT: In the back of my mind, I had that question, if I was going to make it.
ANNA SAFRANEK, SAMANTHA'S MOTHER: It just wasn't fair that, you know, a kid eats a hamburger and ends up almost dying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And federal safety, federal food safety investigators, are now looking into contamination cases, sicknesses resulting from contamination in about eight states. And as a matter of fact, at this store we're standing at this morning, we found some of those Topps frozen hamburgers still on the store shelves bearing the USDA number that is being mentioned in this recall. And we notified store management here and they had to pull those burgers off the shelves very quickly, before customers came in and started buying them -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right.
CNN's Dan Simon following this recall for us.
It is an awful big one, that's for sure.
All right, Dan. Thank you.
Want to get you directly now to this story that we've been following this morning. At the University of Memphis, there has been a deadly shooting. It happened last night.
We want to get directly out to Brian Heap with our affiliate WPTY. He's joining us from campus.
Brian, what do we know this morning?
BRIAN HEAP, REPORTER, WPTY: Well, Heidi, they're still looking for the shooter. At this point, police, if they have any information about the shooter, they aren't sharing it with us.
We know that they interviewed several people last night. But as far as whether or not they were able to get any information that would lead them in the direction of the shooter, like I said, if police have it, they certainly aren't passing it on to us at this time.
I'll tell you where we are right now. We're on the University of Memphis campus, which is pretty centrally located in the city of Memphis.
Right back here on this corner, about four trees in, is where this all came to an end last night. Police tell us that the man who was shot was shot at a dorm, then got inside his car, drove himself, presumably to try to get some help, and then ended up crashing into one of those trees over there, the one that's missing all that bark if you can see that.
Police, again, tell us they don't really have a whole lot of information about what led up to this shooting. They're trying to get all those details sorted out.
We know that immediately after police realized they had a murder on their hands, they went into what's called a lockdown mode here on campus. And I'm told by the University of Memphis police that's really sort of a new concept for them and for a lot of campuses, college campuses, in light of what happened at Virginia Tech earlier this year.
COLLINS: Hey, Brian, you know, we've seen some of these reports here as well. And a couple of them are saying that this, at least so far, according to police, does not look like a random shooting. Any more information out there that you can give us on that?
HEAP: Yes, that's basically what I heard as well. It appears that the young man who was shot was a target in this particular case. And again, police immediately went into that lockdown situation.
I never got any impression from police that they felt as though there was any other immediate danger on campus, that this shooter might still be out there, perhaps going to target other people as we saw at Virginia Tech a few months ago. But right now, it appears this was not a random crime, just a targeted person, and it's the only incident that we know of at this time.
COLLINS: All right.
Well, we know you'll be following it. Let us know if anything should change out there.
Brian Heap with our affiliate WPTY.
Thank you, Brian.
A family mourning a mother and wanting to know how she died in police custody. Police say Carol Anne Gotbaum was arrested Friday at the Phoenix airport. A US Airways spokesman said Gotbaum was bumped from a flight for being late to the gate, then became extremely angry.
Police handcuffed her and took her to a holding room. While she was there, police say she may have tried to get out of the handcuffs and accidentally strangled herself. Gotbaum's stepmother-in-law is New York City public advocate Betsy Gotbaum. She spoke to reporters yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETSY GOTBAUM, VICTIM'S STEPMOTHER-IN-LAW: Carol was a wonderful, wonderful person. She was a wonderful mother. She was sweet and kind and loving.
At this moment, we are awaiting the results of the investigation. We don't know any more than has been reported in the press.
This is obviously very, very difficult for us. We are dealing with it as best we can. My number one focus is those children and my stepson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: An autopsy is scheduled for today, but it could be up to 90 days before the results are released.
Rescuers challenged. First the crew had to find the downed plane, then they had to decide how to get the occupants down.
The plane crashed in a tree just short of a runway at the Franklin, Virginia, airport. But because it was in a swampy, forested area, as you can see there, the plane was hard to locate and then even harder to reach.
The pilot and passenger spent more than six hours suspended in the tree. Climbers went up separate trees and secured the plane with ropes before getting the two men off. They suffered only minor injuries.
Lucky for them. Boy.
A noose around the neck of a young child, part of an elementary school lesson on lynchings?
Investigation ahead.
And passport now required. Delayed security rules delayed no more. It will take effect today. Will they change the way you travel?
And escape from Myanmar. An eyewitness to the crackdown now offering a first-hand account of what's happening in the secretive Asian nation.
And a volcano on an island in the Red Sea lights up the sky. The update and the search for the missing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Heads up for travelers this morning. If you're going to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean, you'd better have your passport in hand.
CNN's Allan Chernoff has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for calling the National Passport Information Center.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Texan Sandra Vazquez calls the Passport Information Center to check on the application she filed back in April...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not telling you to hang up and call back. I'm saying that it might make sense to, because the computer is just not -- it's just not working.
CHERNOFF: ... only to learn that the center's computer system is down. Already, she has had to cancel a summer trip to Costa Rica and now fears she won't be able to go in October.
SANDRA VAZQUEZ, 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.
(on camera): 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.
(voice over): 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 to Mexico.
COLIN WALLE, PRESIDENT, NFFE LOCAL 1998: It truly has been a mountain of applications, carts of applications that have 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 Vazquez won't have to cancel overseas trips.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Got a question about Mexicans? Ask this guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do Mexicans want my truck?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you ever get offended by these questions?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, of course you do. All the questions, in a way, that are offensive, in the sense that Mexicans are still this mystery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: The Mexican myth buster coming up.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SR. BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ali Velshi in New York "Minding Your Business".
It looks like GM does get to close a couple of plants. Some details of the contract with the United Auto Workers coming up after this break in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A noose around the neck of a young child, others in chains. Troubling pictures from a university-run elementary school.
It was call a lesson in racism and the history of lynching. Now Grambling State University is investigating what happened at Alma J. Brown Elementary. These are kindergartners and first graders.
Grambling's president is meeting with those involved today. He ordered the pictures removed from the Louisiana school's Web site.
An outrage over a noose dangling inside a police station in Long Island, New York.
Jill Conway of affiliate News 12 Long Island with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEPUTY CHIEF BILL DIXON, HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK, POLICE: Not only it's an insult, but it hurt me deeply.
JILL CONWAY, REPORTER, NEWS 12 LONG ISLAND: 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 am 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.
(voice over): 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, say racial tensions have been running high here in recent months.
COREY PEGUES, NOBLE: Displaying remarks in the bathroom stalls relating to Chief Bill Dixon. There were fresh clippings from a case he was involved in, 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 this village of Hempstead.
DIXON: We're not just going to stand by, because today'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)
COLLINS: GM's new contract with auto workers could mean more plants will close. That new revelation just as union members start to vote whether to accept the new deal with GM.
Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" this morning.
So, Ali, could this mean they may not accept the deal?
VELSHI: Well, this is a tough one, because the union leadership has recommended to the workers of the UAW that they accept the deal, which sort of suggests, especially after being on a strike for a couple of days last week, that this is probably the best deal they're going to get. The UAW had insisted that GM give them guarantees that plants are not going to close and jobs are not going to be lost in the United States.
It seems like GM got some language in the contract that allows them to at least look at closing two plants, an Indianapolis stamping plant with 850 workers, and a Livonia, Michigan, engine plant with 300 workers. They have got to apparently try some things and try and sort of find other work for those particular employees at those plants, and they've got to do it no earlier than 2012. Now, we're getting some of these reports General Motors and UAW have not actually released the terms of the contract, but major union leaders have voted on it and they're putting it out to their membership now. The voting will be done by October 10th and the UAW is now going to decide whether the next negotiations are with Chrysler or Ford.
So, you know, in the end, Holly -- Heidi, I'm sorry -- this is clearly one of those things that the union didn't get everything they wanted.
COLLINS: Yes.
VELSHI: And -- but they're telling their membership to go ahead with it anyway.
COLLINS: Yes. I mean, obviously, this whole thing started with the health care. But boy, there is a very big part of it, too, talking about trying to get these guarantees that say no more job cuts. But when you hear...
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: The health care problem is a major one. You know?
COLLINS: Yes.
VELSHI: GM is going to have to put $35 billion aside to fund this health care plan that the union is going to run. But $35 billion, by the way, is about a third less than what that fund was supposed to have in it in the first place. It was supposed to have $50 billion, Heidi. And now the United Auto Workers is going to have to start with $35 billion and hope that they can grow and invest it.
COLLINS: Obviously that story is still developing as we go here.
What about Citigroup? Speaking of billions, not looking so good for them right now.
VELSHI: Just heard this morning that in its third quarter, which it will report in a week or two, Citigroup is saying that this mortgage crisis and the credit crunch means that they've had to write off $3 billion worth of business in the last quarter. And their net earnings are going to come in 60 percent lower than they were in the same period last year.
UBS, the Swiss bank, saying the same thing this morning. More than $3.4 billion being written off.
So, hopefully this is the end of that story and they can move on. Taking a writedown is a big deal for a company. It means we're not even going to imagine that we're going to get this money back. We are just taking it off the books and taking a loss now.
COLLINS: Wow. All right.
Well, CNN's Ali Velshi.
Wish you had a little better news there from somewhere, Ali.
VELSHI: I know. Maybe tomorrow, Heidi.
COLLINS: OK. Tomorrow, tomorrow.
VELSHI: See you.
COLLINS: Thanks, Ali.
From the freezer to the frying pan to the E.R., hamburger patties under recall this morning. They could make you very sick. We'll tell you all about it.
And a horrible crime against a child. Now new details about the man police say sexually assaulted a 3-year-old girl. The suspect's ex-girlfriend talks to CNN.
And demonstrations and diplomacy. A new push for change in Myanmar coming from the United Nations.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
COLLINS: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Tony Harris is off today.
A University of Memphis student fatally shot. Classes canceled today as police continue to hunt for a suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER PREWITT, MEMPHIS POLICE: We don't know who the suspects are and we don't have anybody that can -- right now that can pinpoint what happened. All we've got right now is that they heard a shot and then they saw the car drive away. Naturally, people were running because of shots being fired. And the victim ended up here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And we are hearing word from our affiliate stations there in Memphis the victim is 21-year-old Taylor Bradford. He's a university football player. Police say Bradford left the dorms last night. He headed to his car and that is when someone shot him. Police say Bradford managed to get in his car and drive away, but crashed into a tree.
Well, check your freezer because a frozen hamburger recall is expanding now to nearly 22 million pounds of meat patties. E. Coli contamination is the concern. Investigators are looking at potential illnesses in eight states. The frozen patties all distributed by Topps Meat Company, but sold under several different brand names. That's the confusing part. All have a "sell by" date or "best used by" date of September 25, 2007 to September 25, 2008. You can find a complete list of the recalled products at CNN.com.
Topps says this is its first recall in 65 years of doing business.
Revelations this morning about an accused child rapist. Police say Chester Stiles videotaped a brutal attack on a 3-year-old. The little girl, now seven, is safe. The manhunt for Stiles is still on.
Now, Stiles' former girlfriend is talking. She tells our Dan Simon she thought she new Chester Stiles better than anybody.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TINA ALLEN, SUSPECT'S FORMER GIRLFRIEND: He can be very charming, beguiling. He said he had been in the Navy. And, you know, I was looking for a strong guy to represent to my sons what I thought they needed to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Tina Allen also says it won't be easy for police to find Stiles. She says he'll find a place to hide out and can live off the land if he has to.
A massive volcanic eruption off the coast of Yemen. Of the eight originally missing, two people have been rescued this morning. Two more, though, found dead. The search goes on this morning. The volcano erupted on a small island, spewing fire and ash.
Canadian Navy spokesman Ken Allan described the chaos for us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN ALLAN, CANADIAN NAVY SPOKESMAN: It's still erupting. There is still lava pouring off the island. Even during the day, you can still see the spews of lava coming off of it, spouting out one side of the island. The northern side seems to be completely devastated. The rear side -- it's a small island with a bit of a mountain the middle, if you will -- and the southern side seems to be OK, but the northern side is just nothing but red, molten lava.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Except for a navy base, the island was not inhabited. NATO ships promising to stay in the area and find the missing people.
Jacqui Jeras joining us now -- boy, if you're in the Midwest, it's not such a pretty place to be this morning.
JACQUI JERAS, ATS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, not so much.
(WEATHER REPORT) COLLINS: The Great Lakes are leaking. People who make their living there say it's like nothing they've ever seen.
CNN's Miles O'Brien takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Where has all the water gone?
It's a question they're asking along the shores of the Great Lakes.
Av and Jeanine Crowe have been on Georgian Bay for 40 years.
(on camera): What did it used to be out here?
AV CROWE, GEORGIAN BAY HOMEOWNER: Right up to my neck. Standing right here, it could be right up to my neck.
O'BRIEN: Really?
A. CROWE: Yes.
O'BRIEN: And that was how long ago?
A. CROWE: Eight years.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Over at the Twin Bridges Marina, where the water line is directly linked to the bottom line, there used to be enough water to dock 40 boats. But now owner Brian Ramler can barely handle 20.
BRIAN RAMLER, TWIN BRIDGES MARINA: If the prediction is for it to go down lower, I won't have these dock spaces, for sure. I'll be a dry land marina that can look at the water.
O'BRIEN: He is getting plenty of business replacing or repairing trashed propellers.
So why is this happening?
It very likely has something to do with global warming.
But there's also a very local factor at play.
MARY MUTER, GEORGIAN BAY ASSOCIATION: The drain hole is slowly getting bigger due to ongoing erosion, to shoreline alterations. And our research has shown that it's increased the outflow and is contributing to the low water level conditions.
O'BRIEN: This is the drain hole, where the water in Lake Huron flows into the St. Claire River.
I flew my plane here to see it for myself. It was last dredged for shipping 45 years ago. But ever since, the water has steadily carved out a deeper channel.
One study shows two-and-a-half billion gallons of water is going down the drain every day now. But this may not be the biggest culprit.
I flew north to Lake Superior, where many believe the record low water is part of a much bigger problem.
RALPH WILCOX, FISHERMAN: None of this grass was here. That was all water last year.
O'BRIEN: Ralph Wilcox is a fifth generation Lake Superior fisherman.
(on camera): Is it possible this is just part of a natural cycle and it's going to come back?
WILCOX: Nope. I'll bet you it's not.
O'BRIEN: Why not?
WILCOX: Because I've been here 65 years now and it's not -- this is not natural. It's too low. It went too quick.
O'BRIEN: He's still hauling in some amazing white fish. These beauties will be on a Manhattan restaurant table in 48 hours. But it's getting harder all the time. Ralph's wife of 46 years, Shirley, runs the restaurant here.
(on camera): Why do you think they're so low?
What do you think is happening?
SHIRLEY WILCOX, WILCOX'S FISH HOUSE: Well, the global warming, I think.
O'BRIEN: Really?
S. WILCOX: Yes. And I think it's changing. We don't have the weather -- you know, especially our winters are changing. We don't have the ice coverage on the lakes that we always have had.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): The ice keeps the water from evaporating. And there's much less of it these days. And a long drought here has reduced rainfall and the snow pack, which feeds the lakes with waters in the spring.
But the folks who keep the freighters moving on the Lakes, the Army Corps of Engineers, are not convinced.
SCOTT THIEME, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: I think the jury is still out on that. There's a lot of research still being done in terms of what climate change really means and if this is in the normal range of variability we've, you know, seen before or not.
O'BRIEN: The Corps has commissioned a five year study. But many people say now is the time to take action. They worry by the time the research is done, the Great Lakes may not be worthy of their name.
Miles O'Brien, CNN, Sioux St. Marie, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: A suicide bomber strikes in Pakistan -- it's happened before, but this deadly bombing is different. We'll explain.
An escape from Myanmar -- an eyewitness to the crackdown now offering a firsthand account of what's happening in the secretive Asian nation.
The Supreme Court focusing on diverse issues this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cases it's taken so far look to me as if the liberals might, indeed, have the edge on the term coming forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: A preview of cases before a court. Let the hearings begin.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Fewer people being killed in Iraq. That word from the Pentagon. The military says at least 63 U.S. soldiers died in Iraq last month. That's the lowest monthly toll in more than a year. Civilian deaths are said to be down, too. Officials report civilian deaths nationwide were down more than 50 percent in September from August, the lowest of the year. Military officials say the decline is due to a number of factors, including this year's U.S. troop build-up.
New twists on an old tactic -- the Associated Press reporting at least 14 people were killed in a suicide attack in Pakistan. The bomber, according to police, a burqa clad woman. That would be a first, though police say they've had reports women have been trained to carry out suicide attacks. The bomber was in a rickshaw when the blast went off at a crowded police checkpoint.
A diplomatic push in Myanmar -- a U.N. envoy there now, hoping to meet with the leader of the country's military's government. We're told pro-democracy demonstrators have been arrested over the past several days. It's been reported 10 people at least have been killed. We at CNN cannot independently confirm that.
The U.N. envoy has already met separately with some lower level government leaders and pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
New details are emerging today about the crackdown in Myanmar, the country also known as Burma.
CNN's Dan Rivers has the story.
(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 protester 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: Yes. He down.
RIVERS: He fell down?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He fell down.
RIVERS (voice-over): Aung (ph) 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)
COLLINS: Pushing the limits -- that's what it says.
But what's t-shirt for graduating seniors really say?
Some say they don't like the message.
And the queen holds court. Yes, yes, we know, that's a guy.
Equal rights, though, you know?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aaron Zaggy, the 2007 homecoming queen.
AARON ZAGGY, HOMECOMING QUEEN: One of my friends came up to me and said, you know, why don't you run for homecoming queen?
I was like, OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Oh, OK. A prankster pulls a joke. Now he's the king of queens.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Call it a tempest in a t-shirt. Check it out. The class of '08 pushing the limits. Some students at Oyster River High in New Hampshire say the paw print looks like a decimal point and that it's a reference to the .08 blood alcohol limit. The school superintendent says he will investigate.
Meanwhile, some students say they won't wear the shirts or they'll wear them inside out.
A queen at a prank at one Missouri high school -- meet the homecoming queen at University High -- University City High, that is. Yes, we know, it is a guy. That's right.
Kelly Hoskins of CNN affiliate KPLR has the explanation.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
KELLY HOSKINS, KPLR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Today, University City High School held its traditional homecoming parade and football game. But when it came time to announce the title of king and queen, the tradition changed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aaron Zaggy, the 2007 homecoming queen.
ZAGGY: One of my friends came up to me and he said, you know, why don't you run for homecoming queen?
And I was like, OK. And if you knew me, you know, I'm a jokester. So, it was all for fun.
HOSKINS: Aaron Zaggy entered the contest with the support of his classmates and parents, never expecting to win.
ZAGGY: I hung up a couple of posters and just, you know, I had fun with it.
HOSKINS: University's school board agreed to allow Aaron to run because they thought it was just a school prank. But after the votes were in and tallied, Aaron was the official winner by 21 votes. They now say that it's a lesson learned to all voters.
DEPHNE DORSEY, UNIVERSITY CITY HIGH SCHOOL: A lot of these seniors are going to be voting in next year's general election. And so the lesson that they're learning is that whatever you do at the voting polls could have a lasting impact.
HOSKINS: Jennifer Bracy was homecoming queen 20 years ago and is upset the board allowed Aaron to actually run.
JENNIFER BRACY, UNIVERSITY CITY HIGH ALUMNI: That's a fine line that you need to drop. And the leadership needs to take a stand. And it shouldn't have gotten this far. This is a total humiliation on the school district.
HOSKINS: Jehmela Wilson ran for homecoming queen against Aaron and says she will not allow the election outcome to spoil her senior memories.
JEHMELA WILSON, STUDENT: You can't get mad about it. People voted for it. Apparently people thought it would be funny, so they voted. And it is what it is.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS: That's the spirit.
Got a question about Mexicans?
You can ask this guy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do Mexicans want my truck?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT:. Do you ever get offended by these questions?
GUSTAVO ARELLANO, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Oh, of course, you do. All the questions, in a way, they're offensive in the sense that Mexicans are still this mystery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Mexican myth buster -- we'll tell you all about him in just a moment.
Also, a student gunned down at the University of Memphis. Police are searching for the gunman this morning.
And he's accused of a despicable crime. Police say he taped himself molesting a 3-year-old. Chester Stiles -- Nevada's most wanted man today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: We just want to let you know you can watch our pod cast, which we record right after the show every day. Thanks for showing up from 9:00 until 12:00. But you can also download some great stories that we do for you -- usually ones that you won't hear during our broadcast. And download them to your iPod and watch it there 24-7.
Meanwhile, a warning for parents this morning -- If your child complains of sudden chest pain, do not ignore it. Doctors say kids can have heart attacks, doctors say. They say it's rare, but is often an under recognized problem. Doctors in Ohio documented nine cases over 11 years in children as young as 12. All but one were boys. They didn't have the common risk factors like obesity or high blood pressure and cholesterol. Doctors say the cause of heart attacks was most likely a heart spasm that briefly cut off blood supply.
We're Uncovering America this week, focusing on the Hispanic experience. Now, a columnist tackling tough questions and putting a hit on stereotypes.
CNN's Kara Finnstrom explains.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
FINNSTROM (voice-over): Don't expect the man behind Orange County's wildly successful "Ask the Mexican" column to look like this.
ARELLANO: Well, don't you see the mustache here?
The big sombrero. I'm offended you say this.
FINNSTROM: Who is this?
ARELLANO: That's been the Mexican that's been in the minds of Americans for 150 years. What I'm trying to do is just rob it of its power.
FINNSTROM (voice-over): Do expect Gustavo Arellano to be disarmingly politically incorrect -- tackling questions ranging from racist to absurd -- like is it the nature of Mexicans to steal and why do Mexicans want my truck?
(on camera): Do you ever get offended by these questions?
ARELLANO: Oh, of course, you do. All the questions, in a way, they're offensive in the sense that Mexicans are still this mystery to Americans.
FINNSTROM (voice-over): His response to the alleged truck coveting -- it's as natural to us as mustaches and menudo. At least that's the part we can broadcast.
ARELLANO: If people want a pinata, if people want to wail their frustrations out on someone, they can do it on me. But the problem is, this pinata pokes back.
FINNSTROM: Arellano pokes back from his desk at "The Orange County Weekly," trying to demystify if Mexican culture at a time when the immigration debate is creating an ugly backlash. And readers are flocking. He says within three years, he's grown from one publication to 28 nationwide.
ARELLANO: Thanks so much for, you know, reading the column.
FINNSTROM: He has also written an "L.A. Times" best-seller. His writings give some their most authentic taste yet of today's Latin culture.
(on camera): Why did you bring us here?
ARELLANO: This is Fourth Street in Santa Anna. This is the heart of Mexican Orange County here. This is the place where you can find a quintenara (ph) shop, a mango stand. Mango with chili -- a lot of people would say oh my god, that's the most disgusting thing. It's delicious. Be careful. It is going to be a little bit spicy.
FINNSTROM: Ooh.
(voice-over): Arellano's column isn't always nice to immigrants.
ARELLANO: A guy once wrote in and said why don't Mexicans want to learn English?
Are they too stupid, too dumb?
Do they not have enough gratitude for this country?
And my response was I agree with you.
FINNSTROM: Arellano says Southern and Eastern Europeans were also once criticized for not speaking English.
ARELLANO: American racism is a carousel in this country. And here we are again. It just happens to be that the idiot immigrants nowadays are Mexicans.
FINNSTROM: In the politically charged debate over immigration, it's political incorrectness that sometimes gets the most attention.
Kara Finnstrom for CNN, Orange County.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
You'll stay informed all day long right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Here's what's on the rundown now.
A university campus locked down this morning. A football player shot dead.
Nevada police trying to track down a man accused of raping a child on camera. You'll hear from Chester Stiles' former girlfriend.
And lethal injection, voter I.D. cards, the rights of terror suspects -- the United States Supreme Court opens a new term today, the first Monday in October.
You are in THE NEWSROOM.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
