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Tornado Shocker; Bond Hearing for T.I.

Aired October 19, 2007 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A sight no one wants to see. A terrifying tornado ripping through town. It happened in several states. We're going to tell you all about it and who got hit in just a moment.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And then there's this story. Nobel Laureate biologist Jim Watson is apologizing left and right. Watson issued a statement last night apologizing unreservedly for claiming that blacks are not as intelligent as whites. That claim made to a British newspaper reporter. Watson now says he didn't mean it adding, "there is no scientific basis for such a belief." Watson won the Nobel for medicine in 1962 as the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.

COLLINS: Good morning once again, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.

Two New Jersey homes blown to bits this morning. One person killed. Others hurt.

COLLINS: A rapper in front of a federal judge this hour. Will T.I. make bail? Our guests weigh in on the gun charges.

HARRIS: And the FBI raiding this Vegas warehouse. Why? It's a David Copperfield mystery. Don't you disappear on this Friday, October 19th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And first up this hour, a developing story out of Irvington, New Jersey. An explosion has flattened two homes and killed at least one person. Fire officials say the impact scattered debris several blocks away and damaged a number of nearby homes. Right now investigators suspect a gas leak is to blame. At least three people are reported injured, but their conditions are not yet known.

COLLINS: Also new this morning, the end of an international manhunt. A suspected pedophile arrested. Canadian teacher Christopher Paul Neil is accused of abusing young boys in photos pasted on the Internet. He was lead into police headquarters in Bangkok, his head covered with a blue shirt. Authorities issued a worldwide appeal for information about the case based on reconstructed Internet pictures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK MORAN, INTERPOL CASE OFFICER: We published images to the Internet which had been unscrambled by experts in Germany. These images had been posted to the Internet by somebody and they showed a western man quite clearly abusing children. So after attempting to identify him within our own network, we published the images to the Internet launching this manhunt which culminated this morning in the northeast of Thailand with an arrest by the Thai police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Neil sat silently at a news conference by Thai authorities. They say he is suspected of sexually assaulting boys in Thailand, as well as in Vietnam and Cambodia.

HARRIS: In Pakistan, assassination attempt and some experts are already blaming al Qaeda. Hundreds dead and wounded. The target, a symbol of democracy. Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She spoke a short time ago after the killer struck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENAZIR BHUTTO, FORMER PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: They're saying that these (INAUDIBLE) people are (INAUDIBLE). (INAUDIBLE) stay together other (INAUDIBLE) so minority (ph) wants to hijack the destiny of this great nation. I will not be intimidated by this (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A crisis now unfolding in Pakistan. A key ally in the war on terror. CNN's Dan Rivers was on the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It appears that the blast was centered around this vehicle, which seemed to damage one of the police escort vehicles which was riding alongside Benazir Bhutto's campaign bus. The bus itself is over there and you can see on the side it sustained quite a bit of glass damage. Luckily Benazir Bhutto herself was on the top and seems to have escaped most of the force of this blast. But at the moment now there's still the smell of high explosives in the air, a really caustic smell in the air. And all across this floor here horrific scenes with body parts and dead bodies still strewn all around the area.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: So next hour we will hear from someone who received a chilling e-mail from Benazir Bhutto. He says she not only predicted the assassination attempt, but told investigators who their first suspects should be. You'll want to stay tuned for that.

COLLINS: Thousands of people on edge this morning after this. Tornadoes tore through several states. And this is the scene in Missouri. Homes absolutely demolished. One mobile home was tossed in the air and killed two people inside. In Michigan, at least one and as many as four tornadoes touched down. A man was killed when strong winds tore down his house, trapping him inside. Several other homes were damaged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The house just kind of like -- everything just kind of shook and the wind just came and my husband said a branch just fell on the house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The situation on the roads really wasn't any better. A semi truck reportedly flipped over. Thousands of people are still without power.

Let's go right now to CNN's Sean Callebs. He is standing by live in Pensacola, Florida, this morning.

Sean, tell us the scene there. And I know the cleanup efforts are likely well underway already this morning.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they have been, but they've been hampered to a degree by just a downpour that just let up I'd say within the last 30 minutes or so. If you look behind me, if you look at the roof of that church, it is the Greater Little Rock Baptist Church, which also doubled as a daycare center. There are crews up there right now putting plywood over an area where the aluminum roof has just been peeled off. The tornado ripped right down through this section of west Pensacola. Just terrifying moments for parents who had children at the daycare center operated by that church. You can imagine the fear as they pulled up trying to find out if their children were OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM MCCOY, PENSACOLA POLICE DEPT.: The big concerns are traffic volume. The roads are slick. There's a lot of standing water. There could be some accidents. And every single department within the city is going to be very, very busy today. Police, fire, EMS, utilities companies, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: Well, that was a sergeant or the police chief who worked overnight here in Pensacola talking about the flooding that is going on this morning causing a great deal of traffic problems during a rush hour.

I want to show you some dramatic pictures of a dash cam. A funnel cloud off in the distance that just rolled through this area sheering off many roofs, damaging cars. There were four injuries all told. None of them serious. They were all treated and released from a local hospital. But, Heidi, the big story right now is going to be the cleanup. There's a pretty wide area of damage. The tornado blue in though an area called Bayou Chico and then rolling through this area. And as you know, this area of Florida is used to a hurricane, but a tornado entirely different.

Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, no question about that. And as we continue to look at those pictures, it is just shocking. I mean look at that thing just swirling there in the distance.

CNN's Sean Callebs joining us from Florida this morning.

Sean, thanks for that.

And like Reynolds was saying before, they are used to the hurricanes which kind of come in, what did you say, Reynolds, like a wrecking ball, but when a tornado comes . . .

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: When weather does become the news, count on CNN to bring it to you first. And if you see severe weather happening in your area, send us an i-Report if you can. Just go to cnn.com and click on i-Report or type ireport@cnn.com into your cell phone and share your photos or video with us..

HARRIS: Rapper and actor T.I. in court this hour on weapons charges, looking for bail. CNN's Rusty Dornin is at the federal courthouse in Atlanta.

Rusty, good to see you.

What are we expecting to happen this morning?

RUSTY DORNIN, ABC CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, there is no doubt that the rapper T.I., whose legal name is Clifford Harris, can show the judge the money to post bond. The question is, is the judge going to allow him to post bond on these very serious charges.

Now this is a young man at the top of his game. And when he was arrested last Saturday, he was only hours away from the hip-hop awards, of course, where he ended up winning best CD of the year, but, of course, was not there. He was in the Fulton County Jail at the time. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury. He will appear in court today. The judge will decide whether to allow him out of jail.

Now, of course, you're going to hear his defense attorneys probably posting some pretty heavy financial artillery to be able to get him out saying, look, he's not going to go anywhere. Of course prosecutors are going to say these are very serious charges. He was arrested in a sting with unregistered -- three machine guns, two silencers. He also got two other counts. He was already a convicted felon on drug charges. He was on probation. He's not allowed to have fire arms.

The judge in this case, Alan Baverman, is a former defense attorney. So there are some people who are saying, yes, he's going to hear both sides of this argument. So it's going to be interesting to see if they do let him out. Now in the meantime I did go up to the courtroom before I came down here and there, even an hour before the court proceedings were to start, there was a huge crowd of fans and family and friends of this young man. Of course, this is his hometown. And there's some people wondering whether -- if he does go to court, could he, you know, even be convicted in Atlanta, in his hometown by his peers. And that's a question we'll all have to see.

Tony.

HARRIS: My, oh, my. Once again we were talking about machine guns and silencers here, Rusty?

DORNIN: Yes. That's what he was busted with when he was buying from the bodyguard that turned him in. He also had three more guns in the car. And then, of course, when they searched his house, he had basically an arsenal there. So there's quite a collection of guns that they have that they're going to be bringing into this courtroom proceeding.

HARRIS: OK. CNN's Rusty Dornin for us.

Rusty, great to see you. Thank you.

And rapper T.I. in court, as you just heard, on major gun charges. Legal insight from a former U.S. attorney and a defense attorney straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Mystery surrounding an illusionist. FBI agents have searched a Las Vegas warehouse owned by David Copperfield. The building houses tricks and memorabilia from around the world. Agents are saying the search is part of a case based in Seattle, but they are not saying much else. A lawyer for Copperfield says the illusionist has been contacted by the FBI and knows about the investigation.

HARRIS: Security at America's airports. Are screeners getting the job done? We will tell you about a startling undercover investigation.

COLLINS: Also, a major water source in the middle of a water war. We'll talk with Georgia's lieutenant governor about the state's record drought.

HARRIS: Who's on first? Never mind that. Second base is trouble for two Kansas teens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We thought that that would be a great way to market to kids and to get them thinking about breast cancer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The t-shirt in question included a sexual innuendo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Pretty in pink. It's all about breast cancer awareness. The story ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, I'm Gerri Willis.

Coming up, I'll answer your debt collection questions and help sellers navigate this tough real estate market. "Top Tips" is next in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to take a look at the big board now. Ouch. We are down about 144 points, as you can see. Dow Jones Industrial averages now resting at about 13,745. Yesterday I guess it could have been worse, but ended up only down by about 3.5 points at the Dow Jones. The Nasdaq today also down about 31 points. We were pretty prepared for stocks to open lower today. Talking about oil prices, of course. The trading number looking around at $90 a barrel. So we're going to be talking much more about that with Susan Lisovicz a little bit later in the show.

HARRIS: Credit and debt collectors. The topics of today's viewer e-mails. It must be Friday. Here with answers, CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

Gerri, Oceanside, New York. I guess we'll talk about that in just a moment. Good to see you, Gerri. Want to get to some questions.

WILLIS: Good to se you, sir. Absolutely. Hit me with that first one.

HARRIS: All right. This is from Rob who writes, "I'm desperately trying to sell my Dearborn, Michigan, condo. We've lowered our asking price," Gerri, "as much as financially possible. Is there anything else I can do to help entice buyers?" You're good on this topic.

WILLIS: Well, I'm telling you, this is a tough situation and more and more people are finding themselves in it. Rob, first off, I know you've already done the basic stuff. You've made this condo as absolutely attractive as possible, painted all the walls white, it's clean as can be.

You may have to take more drastic steps here. Make sure that price has been cut absolutely as low as you can make it go. And at the end of the day you may have to promise more. Maybe you pay the condo association fees. Maybe you pay closing costs.

If that doesn't work, desperation mode, you may want to rent it out. You may want to explore becoming a landlord. A lot of people out there are doing it. And you can get lots of great information online about state laws in regards to renting out your place because you'll need to know the laws. It's pretty tricky.

HARRIS: Yes, but do everything possible to pump up that curb appeal, correct?

WILLIS: Pump up the curb appeal, drop you -- you know, it's all about the price.

HARRIS: It really is.

Hey, the next e-mail comes from Angela who writes, Gerri, "can you please tell me how a 'short sale' affects a person's credit, as opposed to a foreclosure?"

WILLIS: Well, it's about the same. You know, the credit rating agencies, they don't like either one. And in case you don't know, a short sale is when you find a buyer for your house but they're not willing to pay what you owe on it, hence the term short sale because you're coming up short. And the debt collection agencies, they don't like that either. As a matter of fact, this is going to stay on your credit report for seven years.

But at the end of the day, I've got to tell you, if you're in Dearborn, Michigan, or a place where prices are likely to languish a long time, this may be the option you want to take. You do have to get your bank to sign on. They have to be willing to do it as well because they are forgiving debt.

HARRIS: Hey, you know, Gerri, anonymous, we don't know who it is, but anonymous is asking a question that I suppose a lot of folks ask from time to time. "How long can creditors contact you?"

WILLIS: It depends on what state you live in. It can be anywhere from three years to 15 years. But I have got a great website that will help you figure out what the law is in your state. You want to go to fair-debt-collection.com. That site can tell you, you know, how long they can come after you.

But, of course, you know, Tony, the devil is in the details here, right?

HARRIS: Right.

WILLIS: Because there are some debts that they can always come to you for, taxes, tax liens. There's no statute of limitations there. If you're paying child support and you miss payments, there's no forgiveness for that. You've got to make those payments. At the end of the day, of course, it makes sense to know what you owe and to pay it down because it's going to affect your credit score.

And, Tony, you know, your credit score isn't just important in terms of what you're paying for loans. Employers look at it. People who issue insurance look at it. It affects all parts of your life. You've got to work really hard to make it look as good as possible.

HARRIS: I'm glad you reminded us of that fact.

Hey, you're out there in Oceanside, Long Island.

WILLIS: That's right. HARRIS: This must have something to do with "Open House."

WILLIS: That's right. You know, guess what? We're going all green this weekend. We've got great advice, great tips for reducing your energy bills whether you're in your house or in your car driving around, how to save money and go green, coming up at 9:30 a.m. Saturday right here on CNN. You'll be watching, right?

HARRIS: We love it. We love it in the Harris household.

Gerri, have a great weekend.

WILLIS: I love to hear that.

HARRIS: See you next week. OK.

WILLIS: You too.

COLLINS: Search ends in success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we found him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The best news you could hear certainly as a parent. Autistic teenager survives four days in the woods.

And preaching religious intolerance. Is it happening in the shadow of the nation's capitol? A look at a controversial school coming up in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: A court appearance for rapper T.I. this morning. A bond hearing scheduled this hour right here in Atlanta. T.I.'s lawyers will try to convince a federal judge he should be freed until trial. T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, was arrested Saturday in Atlanta. Police say they found machine guns and silencers. T.I., a convicted felon, is not supposed to have guns.

HARRIS: Some background now on T.I., a.k.a. Clifford Harris. The good and the bad. He is quite an entertainer. That must be said. Winning a pair of Grammy Awards in 2006, including best rap collaboration with Justin Timberlake for "My Love." Don't remember that one. He also had a role in last year's movie "ATL." Did see that. And you'll see him in the upcoming movie "American Gangster" starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

But in addition to his current legal problems, T.I. has had other run-ins with the law. Court documents show he was convicted on felony drug charges in Georgia in 1998 and sentenced to seven years probation. And an affidavit shows he has at least one probation violation for unlawfully possessing firearms. Uh-oh. In depth legal insight on T.I.'s bond hearing and arrest, here to talk about it with us, B.J. Bernstein, a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney and Kent Alexander, a former U.S. attorney. Tough guy you. You though guy.

Good to see you both.

B.J. BERNSTEIN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Good to see you. We've got to work on you listening of some more music, Tony, OK.

HARRIS: Broaden by scope, right?

BERNSTEIN: J.T. and T.I. together. It was good.

HARRIS: Was it good?

BERNSTEIN: It was good.

HARRIS: You listened. All right. OK.

KENT ALEXANDER, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: (INAUDIBLE), but that's OK.

HARRIS: There you go.

Hey, let me start with the basic question here.

B.J., what do you think, is he going to get bond today?

BERNSTEIN: I think there's a good shot that he'll -- to get bond.

HARRIS: Really? With that record we just listed there? You think so?

BERNSTEIN: Well, because the thing is, is although the guns are violent, there's not an actual crime of violence. He didn't use the guns here. And I think they're going to put a lot of restrictions. For instance, one of the things that would be creative is to say that the bodyguards around him also cannot have firearms. In other words, make sure that not only around him, but anyone around him, no firearms. You know, maybe you have a bodyguard to keep the little girls from running up, but no sort of possibility of a shootout or anything like that.

HARRIS: I wonder about that. We'll come back to that in a second.

But, Kent, what do you think about this? Will he get bond today?

ALEXANDER: I think he probably will get bond.

HARRIS: You think so too?

ALEXANDER: Most people wouldn't. Most people in this situation would absolutely be in jail. Ironically his notoriety plays in favor of bond because they could probably come up with a situation where they basically turn his house into a jail. If they do that and he's not a risk of flight, not a danger to the community, he gets bond, but it's unusual because most cases like this I think somebody would be in jail.

HARRIS: I think that's interesting, what you're suggesting here as a possible way to make this happen with enhanced restrictions.

BERNSTEIN: And you've got to remember, he's got four lawyers, four of the best lawyers in Atlanta, so they are going to put together probably a creative presentation to the court to say, listen, you know, T.I.'s going nowhere. The whole world, every time he takes a step, there's a camera on him.

HARRIS: But it's not the same case where you can say that everybody knows T.I. He can't get out of town because he's known all over the world. You can't make that case, can you?

ALEXANDER: No, you can't.

HARRIS: You really can't.

ALEXANDER: And actually, you know, I should draw the distinction between what will happen and what should happen. I think that anybody who's been convicted of dealing crack and then has automatic weapons should be in jail. And, of course, they need to prove that he's guilty. But that presents a real threat to the community. His situation is just a little different. As B.J. said, all eyes are on him, so, you know, maybe that's what the judge will go with.

HARRIS: So would you ask for a speedy trial if you're the attorneys representing T.I.?

BERNSTEIN: You know, at this point, I think they're going to let things play out and see what the evidence is, see what happens. We've had one of the lawyers say, I'm going for total exoneration.

HARRIS: Yes.

BERNSTEIN: You heard that in the Michael Vick case. And we're talking about federal guidelines. As Kent, former U.S. attorney knows, those guidelines are really tough. And if he's convicted, he's going to jail and it may be that, you know, we've got to wait and see.

HARRIS: Well, let's talk about this hurdle.

Kent, former U.S. attorney, what is the conviction rate for cases that end up in the federal system? I heard something yesterday 90 percent to 95 percent conviction rate. What is T.I. up against in mounting a defense here?

ALEXANDER: The conviction rate is always over 90 percent. So that's -- he's got a big hill. And maybe it's not Everest, but it's close. From what I read in the paper, and I only see, you know, hearing the news from you, the news accounts seem to suggest that this guy's in big trouble. Now B.J. mentioned the guidelines. We're talking 10 years per count. So there are three counts, 30 years max. Realistically, under the guidelines, probably more in the neighborhood of five years. But he's definitely doing time if he's convicted. So I'm guessing, you know, they'll talk a good game about going to trial but maybe try to work something out.

HARRIS: You think so? You think so? OK.

B.J., you're our defense attorney here. How do you begin to plot a defense for T.I.? I know you're turning to Kent and you're saying, it is the federal government's burden to make this case, but do you have to, in this case, present some kind of a defense?

BERNSTEIN: Well, I think part of the thing that has to be broken down is, listen to the so-called videotape or audio tape evidence because, remember, it was a bodyguard allegedly that contacted going to buy the guns. It wasn't T.I. going out. It was T.I. supposedly meeting at a Walgreen's parking lot to pick them up.

HARRIS: So the bodyguard gets pinched. He says, hey, they're not for me, they're for T.I. . . .

BERNSTEIN: Maybe. Maybe that's what you'll hear.

HARRIS: And the feds say, prove it and now we get what amounts to a sting operation. Is there an entrapment defense here possible?

ALEXANDER: Sure. That would be the route to go. Entrapment defense. The question is, is it a successful entrapment defense. T.I.'s problems, from what I read, are that he had guns in his house, he had guns in the safe in his home, guns in his car.

HARRIS: Look, I'm a rapper. I'm a rapper. I have 15 houses. First of all, which house are you talking about? I'm a rapper. I have 1,500 people who are in and out of my house. Oh, about 1,000 live there. I can't tell you whose weapons we're talking about here. Does that help at all, B.J.?

BERNSTEIN: We just signed you up for the defense team. You may be hearing that as well.

HARRIS: Does that help at all?

BERNSTEIN: And I think we already heard a few leaks of that already. But, again, the one problem is the one that was in the car allegedly, you know, right sitting next to him as he drives up. So it's going to be tough. And then this brings up the bigger controversy out there about young people paying attention. You know, Larry King last night just talked about -- had Bill Cosby on talking about music, famous people, and what message are we sending. And this controversy is going to continue in that way as well.

HARRIS: I think we're going to hear a little bit from Bill Cosby up a little bit later in the program, I believe.

B.j., good to see you. Kent, thanks for your time this morning. Come back and see us again as we move down the road on this case, would you please?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will do.

HARRIS: And just another reminder to you that CNN's Rusty Dornin is at the federal court building, probably a stone's throw away from the CNN center here in Atlanta. And once that hearing wraps up, we will check in with Rusty.

And welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. Bottom of the hour. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. Among our top stories this hour new developments this morning in a child sex abuse investigation. The suspect arrested in Thailand following an international manhunt. Canadian teacher Christopher Paul Neil led into police headquarters in Bangkok today, his head covered with a blue shirt. Authorities say Neil is the man seen abusing young boys in photos posted on the Internet. The pictures have been digitally altered to disguise the man's face, but German investigators were able to unscramble the image. Media around the world showed the picture. Thai authorities say Neil is suspected of abusing boys there, as well as in Vietnam and Cambodia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Several states in recovery mode this morning after a major outbreak of tornadoes. Twisters and high winds ravaged parts of Missouri, homes absolutely demolished. In fact, one mobile home was tossed in the air, killing the two people inside.

In Michigan, at least one is as many as hour tornadoes touched down. A man was killed there when strong winds tore down his house and trapped him inside. Several other homes were damages as well.

And just look at this scene now, in Owensboro, Kentucky, high winds and severe thunderstorms toppled trees and power lines there. At least nine people were hurt. There were reports of tornadoes touching down, but as of yet, not confirmed.

That, however, not the case in Pensacola, Florida. A tornado, rare in that part of the state, ripped through town, destroying homes and damaging a church with a daycare center inside. Luckily, though, no one was hurt there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Meanwhile, though, it is pitting state against state and man against muscle. A water war brought on by a record drought in the southeast. The state of Georgia trying to slow the flow of water from a major reservoir. The water released to Alabama and Florida to protect endangered muscles.

On the phone with us now, Georgia Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle. Lieutenant governor, thanks for being with us.

As I'm sure you are aware, there's quite a bit of worry everywhere in north Georgia right now. And people are talking about not being able to take showers anymore, or only flushing their toilets certain times of day. We know everybody's grass is brown, and sometimes even neighbors are turning on each other and tattling if somebody's sprinkler system is on. Update us if you would. What's the situation right now? How many days of water are left in our reservoirs?

LT. GOV. CASEY CAGLE (R), GEORGIA: Well, Heidi, you're exactly right. We are finding ourselves in the worst drought in Georgia's history, and we're all very, very concerned.

I will tell you that there's no way we can conserve ourselves out of this dilemma. We've got to have a remedy from the Corps of Engineers. They're letting out roughly a billion gallons daily out of our lakes, and we just simply cannot sustain that, and there's no real justifiable reason for doing so, other than the mussels down stream. We don't feel that that makes a whole lot of sense here in Georgia, that we would actually put mussels ahead of human consumption. We have taken our case to the courts. The attorneys are working and hopefully things prepared today and begin moving toward an injunction to try and get this stopped.

COLLINS: Now, Lieutenant governor, I get a little confused, as we look at the pictures of the mussels right now. My understanding is the mussels are actually used to help purify the water, but that's still not a big enough concern in order to keep funneling this water in that direction.

CAGLE: Well, you know, I think that many would make an argument that maybe mussels would purify water and...

COLLINS: If you have the water, I guess, right?

CAGLE: If you have the water. If you don't have the water, then you're really up against a difficult situation. And, you know, this argument just doesn't hold, and certainly we don't think there's a judge in the land that's going to say that mussels should take priority over drinking water for those upstream, and we're going to do everything within our power to fight to ensure that Georgia citizens are taken care of.

COLLINS: OK, so -- so you have just said that there's absolutely no way that we can conserve ourselves out of this drought. What is the latest with the Army Corps of Engineers? We have been hearing a little about them possibly considering bending the rules, if you will.

CAGLE: Well, we are very encouraged. We did receive news yesterday that the process is beginning to work and they're beginning to soften in their position. We're very hopeful that those negotiations will continue to move our way, and, again, that is certainly one of the options as well as the judicial system, but we've got to take advantage of every opportunity we have to ensure that our water is available for our citizens.

COLLINS: Sure, and the fact of the matter is, we just flat out need a whole lot of rain. CAGLE: Well, rain ...

COLLINS: Give us an idea, if you would.

CAGLE: Rain would go a long way.

COLLINS: Yes, exactly, but give people an idea, if you would, what is the timing of all of this? What is the backup plan because as I said in the beginning, people really are talking about whether or not they're at one point, going to be able to shower anymore. Can you give us a better sense of how realistic that is?

CAGLE: Well, certainly, they're -- we are asking everyone to help us get through this difficult time in Georgia. Conservation will help, certainly. There's no question about that, but the real fix is really the rainfall and trying to hopefully the God Lord above will bless us with that and then of course, the Corps of Engineers. We will be pursuing all of those avenues. We -- the statistics show us that without any rain, we may be looking as much as less than 90 days before we get to a dangerous pool in terms of storage. So, we're very concerned about that number.

COLLINS: OK, all right. Do me a favor, if you had to pick a number here on a scale from one to 10, 10 being the most concerned, how concerned should Georgia residents be about this?

CAGLE: Well, I think Georgia residents should be very concerned, and, again, we're not at the crisis stage, but we could be, and I think ...

COLLINS: Can you give me a number?

CAGLE: Well, I think we have roughly three months to get to that point, and there are a lot of factors that enter into that. I think we are clearly at the seven stage at this point.

COLLINS: OK, hey, where is Governor Purdue? I think we understood him to be in Asia for a while.

CAGLE: He's in ...

COLLINS: But he's back now, right?

CAGLE: He is en route back, and obviously, I have been in constant communication with him and his staff, and he has been deeply involved in this from the very beginning, and we're very appreciative for his support to take care of Georgia citizens.

COLLINS: But what's his plan? Of course, we have been trying to reach him, understand that he's been traveling, but I imagine this will certainly be on the agenda right away today now that he's back.

CAGLE: Without a doubt. I mean, the corps certainly is -- the judicial system continuing the negotiation as well with the Corps and Game and Fish, continuing to forge a strong partnership at the Congressional level and putting as much pressure to bear as possible. COLLINS: All right, so you'll let him know that we would like to speak with him here in the CNN NEWSROOM, right?

CAGLE: Well, we will certainly do that, Heidi.

COLLINS: Terrific. All right, Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, we certainly appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

CAGLE: Thank you so much.

HARRIS: An autistic teen heading home today after four days on his own in the wilderness. CNN's Allan Chernoff has the happy ending to this story in Elkins, West Virginia.

Good to see you, Allan. How is Jacob Allen doing this morning?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tony, Jacob is actually doing really well, not a scratch on his body, according to his sister. He was dirty and dehydrated when he arrived here at the hospital yesterday. So he received an IV drip overnight and he's been drinking plenty of Gatorade. And by the end of the day, he should be out of the hospital. This is, as you said, such a happy ending to the story.

After hundreds of volunteers were combing the Appalachian woods looking for Jacob and finally after four days of looking, yesterday a little after 2:00 in the afternoon, one of the hunters found him a good distance away from the trail. This was his family's greatest nightmare. But hiking in the woods for Jacob is his greatest joy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITTNEY ALLEN, HIKER'S SISTER: He loves the outdoors. He loves the trees and we've been hiking since he was very young child, his whole life, so and we go camping a lot. And it's just -- he just loves being out there in the nature.

CHERNOFF: Even after this experience? You guys are still heading out into the woods?

ALLEN: Yes, I'm sure we'll still take him out there. You know, we're obviously going to be a lot more paranoid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: The rescuers who were hunting for Jacob were yelling ice cream, they were advertising ice cream to him. Well now the family, once he's discharged, the family wants to make good on that promise. So, I think the Allen family is going to be going out for some pretty serious sundaes today or tomorrow -- Tony?

HARRIS: I love the sound of that.

Allan Chernoff for us. Allan, appreciate it, thank you.

COLLINS: A Nobel laureate doing some mea culpa, now. The co- discoverer of DNA apologizing for what he said about the black race. SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. TGIF, it's been a tough week and the bear saved the worst for the final trading day of the week. But not all the numbers are bad. We'll also talk Google next.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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HARRIS: Nobel laureate biologist Jim Watson, suspended for his comments about blacks. Watson issued a statement last night apologizing unreservedly for claiming that blacks are not as intelligent as whites. That claim made to a British newspaper, but word today that the Cold Spring Harbor Lab in New York has suspended him. Watson is listed as chancellor of that facility. Watson says he didn't mean to question the intelligence of blacks, adding, quoting here, "There is no scientific basis for such a belief." Watson won the Nobel for Medicine in 1962 as the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.

COLLINS: Chrysler's tentative deal with the United Autoworkers Union could have a tough time getting through the rank and file. Workers at one plant already rejected the deal.

Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange now with the very latest on this. Hi there, Susan. This not going to be very easy.

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

HARRIS: Still to come this morning, he was one of America's most wanted, a man of accused of child rape. Now he is back in the country and due in court this morning.

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HARRIS: A private school outside Washington is drawing a lot of attention these days. A federal panel accuses of school of teaching extremism.

CNN's Brian Todd takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice over): New claims Saudi Arabia is not coming clean on the issue of religious tolerance. U.S. officials are concerned that the Islamic Saudi Academy, a private school in the U.S., just outside Washington, funded by the Saudi government, is still using textbooks that preach religious hatred.

Those officials are asking the State Department to do something pretty unusual.

NINA SHEA, COMM. ON INTL. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: To strive for a bilateral agreement from the Saudi government itself to close its own school, until it comes clean with its textbooks. TODD: A U.S. government panel became concerned when they went to Saudi Arabia recently and tried to examine school textbooks there. They say they weren't given a single one. According to one report, cited by the U.S. government, the books used to contain phrases like, "the hour of judgment will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them." State Department officials did not say they would pressure the Saudis to shut down this school, but --

TOM CASEY, SPOKESMAN, STATE DEPT.: We continue to work with the government of Saudi Arabia to press them to make the kinds of changes that they have committed to make in their textbooks.

TODD: A spokesman at the Saudi embassy told us there's no inflammatory material at the textbooks at the Islamic Saudi Academy here in the U.S., that his government is working with the State Department to deal with any objections over the text in Saudi Arabia. And that several changes have already been made.

When we followed up on his suggestion to go to the Virginia school, we were first told to leave. Then after we persisted, Administrator David Kovalik came out and addressed the key charges.

DAVID KOVALIK, ADMINISTRATOR, ISLAMIC SAUDI ACADEMY: There are no such passages that preach hatred, or intolerance toward any other faith, or any other people. That's not what we're here for. We're here to teach a values-based education.

TODD: Kovalik has been here for eight years. When I read him that passage from two years ago about Muslims fighting and killing Jews, he admitted the school did have some questionable passages in its books, but has since taken all of them out.

(on camera): But verifying that is difficult. A student here gave us this fifth-grade textbook on Islam and the Koran. A translator went over it with us and found no really inflammatory passages, but a known critic of the Saudi government gave us this book which he says is for ninth graders here. He translated a passage which he says does talk about Muslims killing Jews.

Brian Todd, CNN, Alexandria, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Next hour a man who received a chilling e-mail from Benazir Bhutto. He says not only predicted the assassination attempt but told investigators who their first suspect should be. That's coming up one hour from now.

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