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Teen Sex Case; California Wildfires Evacuees Return Home; Pike County, Kentucky, Schools Closed for Cleaning

Aired October 29, 2007 - 11:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Heidi Collins. Tony Harris is off today.

Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on this Monday, October 29th.

Here's what's on the rundown.

Beach house in flames. Seven college students killed.

This hour, new details on the investigation.

Big oil to high court. Justices agree to hear Exxon's appeal of the Exxon Valdez judgment.

And she applied for a job online but never came back from her interview. A family mourns.

In the NEWSROOM.

Two college campuses in mourning right now. Seven students on a weekend getaway are dead, killed in this fire that tore through a North Carolina beach house. Six of the victims attended the University of South Carolina. The other victim was a Clemson student.

Just a few moments ago I had a chance to talk with a local reporter there who had quite a bit of information on all of this. He had spoken with the ATF, who is involved in the investigation into what may have happened here, but also told us that according to the mayor of the town, Ocean Isle, North Carolina, that that is standard procedure.

It was something that had surprised us, but we have been told that that is standard procedure. He also told us that people are walking by the charred remains of the house today, seemingly just in shock about what happened there.

He went to prison for having consensual sex with another teen. Hours after being freed, Genarlow Wilson thanked church members for helping to stoke public outrage.

Most importantly, Georgia's Supreme Court also came to his aid. It ruled Friday his 10-year sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Wilson served more than two years after rejecting a plea bargain. He sat down with CNN's Rick Sanchez for his first interview after being released from prison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So you were willing to stay in a maximum security prison with rapists and with murders for principle.

GENARLOW WILSON, FREED FROM PRISON: Of course.

SANCHEZ: And the principle was?

WILSON: I feel like it was a good cause.

SANCHEZ: You didn't want to be -- you didn't want to be branded?

WILSON: I did not, and I felt like they didn't intend for this to happen to, you know, people like myself, and come to find out we were correct because they changed the law. They just didn't make it retroactive, and so we just -- you know, we went through the right court procedures and we got it done.

SANCHEZ: You would have been able to get out and walk as a free man, and the only thing is you would have carried with you this label of sexual offender.

WILSON: Exactly, but I might have had lesser time, but then again I would have nowhere to go because I would have no home. I wouldn't be able to stay with my mother because I have a little sister. You know, when you're a sex offender, you can't be around kids. Basically, it's like I can't even have kids myself.

You know, so what is the point of life?

SANCHEZ: So you weren't willing to do that deal?

WILSON: Of course not. You have no future.

SANCHEZ: Although others did.

WILSON: Yes, you know, but I consider myself a different person. You know, I wanted more for myself and for my family, so I just had to -- you know, I had a little more difficult task.

SANCHEZ: And the new Genarlow is going to be how compared to the old Genarlow?

WILSON: I feel like he's going to be more conservative, more alert of, you know, what's going on around him and, you know, just thankful for, you know, what he has. Because back then, you know, when it seems like you have everything, you know, you feel like you have no words until it's all gone.

You know, I know what it feels like to be without. I don't ever want to feel like that again. I don't ever want to see the inside of a prison, or a prison period. SANCHEZ: And you'll make sure it doesn't happen. Good luck.

WILSON: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Later today you can see Rick Sanchez's entire interview with Genarlow Wilson. "Out in the Open" airs at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, right here on CNN.

The southern California wildfires, some evacuees return home. Their lives though, changed forever. Their death narrowly avoided.

CNN's Reggie Aqui is in Rancho Bernardo now this morning to give us an update on all of this.

Reggie, tell us what's happening this morning.

REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Heidi.

Well, this is what's happening. We've got so many people that were here yesterday cleaning up that, now you can see this blank slab that is behind me. It once was filled with all this stuff right here. And I just talked to the gentleman who helped clean this up yesterday.

He tells me it took a lot of hard work and about 30 church volunteers all day long to get all of this stuff, basically the contents of this family's home, pushed out to the front yard so they can try to rebuild again. And let me show you how they're doing that.

They're taking these sifters down here, and this has become a homeowner's best friend. Just like an archaeological dig, they sift through all their stuff and try to get anything that could remain, like everything that you see out here. Anything, really, especially these metal tools are the things that survived -- some pottery.

We even found a gun here. Apparently, this family, they had quite a lot of ammunition. They even had a gun safe.

Now, while cleanup is the focus here, yesterday we had the opportunity to meet a family, the Bielasz family. They have quite a survival story to tell us.

Here's what they did, Heidi. They actually jumped into their pool. At first in the shallow end, but because the house was completely on fire, they were worried the house was going to fall on top of them. That worry turned out to be true. The house did fall into the shallow end, but not before this couple swam to the deep end.

They stayed in that pool for three hours, and it was really cold in that pool. They watched as their house was completely demolished by the fire, but they were safe. Take a listen to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROGER BIELASZ, FIRE SURVIVOR: We ducked our head under that overhang.

AQUI: For how long?

BIELASZ: Three hours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think about three hours.

BIELASZ: About three hours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BIELASZ: Actually, it was about an eternity and a half. It's the -- it's the longest wait I have ever had for a ride, and thank heavens we never filled the pool in. We talked about that. We were going to fill it in, not fill it in. But we needed the escape plan if it ever happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AQUI: Heidi, that pool saved their lives, but unfortunately, it did not save the lives of their next door neighbors.

They all came up with plan. They said if there were ever a fire in our neighborhood, the deal is you jump in our pool and you save yourself.

They waited for those three hours. They never heard from their neighbors. Several days later, authorities found their bodies in the house.

I want to show you the rest of this neighborhood here just to give you an idea. This may be on the road to cleanup, but there's so much work to be done just down the street. I counted about 14 houses just in this little neighborhood here completely burned down by the fire.

Heidi, isn't that story in the pool just incredible?

COLLINS: It is unbelievable. So very sad, too, the ultimate result of all of that. Boy.

Reggie Aqui, we certainly appreciate that. And while we have you standing by, Reggie, I want to let our viewers know something else that we are just learning here in the CNN NEWSROOM now.

We have learned a little bit more about an interesting connection here between the Marines and the Iraqi army. As you probably are aware, there are several marines from Camp Pendleton that have been so affected by these fires in southern California.

Our Barbara Starr, our CNN Pentagon correspondent, has let us know about this interesting story. It was actually an e-mail that was passed onto her from the local Marine commander in eastern Iraq, noting that he was called to an emergency meeting with local Iraqi commanders, and they gave him a check for $1,000 to help with some of the rebuilding. Again, they understand that Camp Pendleton was hit pretty hard, and there are several people, several soldiers that are serving in Iraq from Camp Pendleton. So apparently this was a pretty unusual outpouring of gratitude and compassion that the commander wanted to tell us about. And we share that with you now. So an interesting side note there.

Meanwhile, though, a difficult night for some residents of Australia's Queensland region. Storms blew through with strong winds, hail and heavy rain. Authorities say several thousand homes lost power. Roofs were torn off or damaged.

Trees and power lines downed, and one community reported winds hitting more than 110 miles per hour. Despite all the damage, no serious injuries reported.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: More bad news for O.J. Simpson. We want to tell you the very latest here that we are learning from The Associated Press.

We understand that a third man has now agreed to plead guilty and therefore testify against O.J. Simpson. You'll remember that he is accused of pulling a gun. O.J. Simpson and others confronted two sports memorabilia dealers. This was the story in Las Vegas that we've been telling you about that happened inside a hotel room there.

Again, there will be a third person now who will accept a plea deal and then testify against O.J. Simpson in this case. His name, Michael McClinton (ph), 49 years old, of Las Vegas.

So we'll continue to follow developments in that story.

Also developments to follow in another scary story, fears over a deadly superbug. All 23 schools in Pike County, Kentucky, shut down today for a complete top-to-bottom cleaning. The schools' superintendent, Roger Wagner, is now joining us on the phone with the very latest.

Mr. Wagner, thanks for being here. Tell us what's happened at your school.

ROGER WAGNER, SUPERINTENDENT, PIKE COUNTY, KENTUCKY, SCHOOLS: Well, Heidi, what we have is we've had ongoing information sending out to parents about this disease, literature trying to educate our community and -- our educational community, our parents, our students. We have had a couple confirmed cases there that's been treated and dealt with, and what we've done -- primarily, it's come out of the high schools, and we have five high schools, we have 18 elementaries, and we just felt it would be a good day to bring in all the schools there to just do a -- pick a day of disinfecting, cleaning cafeterias, buses. I mean, the whole nine yards at the school. The elementaries, as well as the high schools.

We also have an employee day professional cleaning service to work through the locker rooms of our high schools primarily. COLLINS: OK. So there hasn't been a new incident that has occurred that has made you want to shut down the schools today?

WAGNER: No, no. This was just merely a voluntary preventive measure to reinforce some of the things we've already got in place, but just to emphasize the importance of just good general -- good hygiene, and we wanted to take a day to do that.

COLLINS: OK. Does it scare you? I mean, it sounds pretty scary.

Obviously, everybody remembers in Virginia the 17-year-old who actually died from MRSA, this drug-resistant staph infection that is frightening. I mean, it's very scary to know how exactly you get it and how quickly it can spread.

WAGNER: Well, actually, it's nothing new. Staph infections is very common, or different strands of it, or so on. And I think the case you just mentioned kind of put it on the front burner nationally, and so it's drawn a lot of attention.

COLLINS: Yes. Well, I think what's new is it has come out of the hospitals and into the communities and into the schools, and I think that's what has people a little bit frightened, but we wanted to make sure that we got that out.

Once again, Pike County School District is shut down today to disinfect against this MRSA that we have been talking about here quite a bit, the staph infection that just doesn't really seem to respond to antibiotics.

Roger Wagner, the school superintendent there, we certainly appreciate your time. Thank you.

An online job search, now a murder investigation. A nanny stuffed in the trunk of her car.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Want to get back to this terrible story that we've been telling you about this morning out of North Carolina. There were seven college students that were killed in a blazing fire there.

Jennifer Wilson is with WIS. She is in Ocean Isle now, North Carolina, right in front of the house where it all happened.

Jennifer, I know you just got off the phone with the mayor. What was he able to tell you?

JENNIFER WILSON, REPORTER, WISTV: Good morning, Heidi.

The mayor told us that the flags here on Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina will be at half staff for the next seven days. One day for each of the young people who lost their life in the fire.

The town says that this is the worst tragedy that has ever happened here. Ocean Isle Beach is a very small beach community, a family-oriented beach community that's about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach, and there's a tremendous outpouring of support for the victims of this fire and their families.

COLLINS: What else can you tell us about -- just because I know that you're there and we've been hearing some reports of people sort of walking by what's left of the home. What are you noticing about people?

WILSON: There are a lot of people walking by to see what the home looks like. It is a home that's a three-story home, rather new. It's on a waterway here probably about three blocks from the beach. A lot of people walking by yesterday.

We spoke with people who saw the fire. One man told us that the flames were -- that the home was totally engulfed in flames and sky high above the house. He said that he had seen some college students at the house the night before having a party, and he woke up the next morning hearing sirens and seeing that house fully involved. And he said it made him sick to his stomach, because he knew with a fire like that there was no way everyone could have gotten out.

And he said as a parent you feel terrible, because that could have been anyone's child in that house. And you grieve for their parents and their families who have suffered such a tremendous loss.

We do have seven people who died -- six university of South Carolina students and one Clemson student. There were also six other people who survived, including one person who jumped out a third floor window into the waterway next to the house to escape.

We hear that they were here for some kind of party. It was supposed to be a fun beach weekend.

Some of the victims we hear were members of the Delta Delta Delta sorority and others were in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. And unfortunately, a horrible, horrible incident here.

COLLINS: Yes, no question about that.

Quickly, just wanted to ask you, and it may be a little too early, but just wondering, this was a home that was a rental property, correct? Or did someone who was staying at the home, did their family own this beach house?

WILSON: I don't think it was a rental property. What we're hearing is that the -- a family member of one of the young people in the house owns the house. We presume it may have been a parent, and they were using the house for the weekend.

The mayor tells us this family has owned property here in Ocean Isle Beach for about 30 years. We also understand the home was just renovated a few months ago and that the homeowner had added an elevator and some other features in the house. It's on a street that is filled with just beautiful beach homes here, but we do understand it was owned by the family. COLLINS: Did you say just moments ago that that was oceanside property? You said the student who jumped out the window actually went directly into the water.

WILSON: Yes. Yes.

It's not on the ocean. It's about three blocks from the ocean, but it is on a canal. There's a bunch of canals here on the island where you can pull up a boat, where you have a dock, you have a boat slip, and this was on the corner of a canal.

So it was kind of a T into the canal. So there was water on two sides of the house, and I think he just -- he jumped out and aimed for the water and landed in the water near where people have their boats and docks.

COLLINS: Wow.

WILSON: But it was not the ocean.

COLLINS: It is just unbelievable.

Well, we appreciate your reporting here today.

Jennifer Wilson of our affiliate WIS there in Ocean Isle, North Carolina.

Jennifer, thank you.

To this story now. The Supreme Court this morning is agreeing to hear the Exxon Valdez case. Right now, Exxon owes $2.5 billion in punitive damages for the massive Alaska oil spill.

Exxon says the judgment is excessive. The justices will decide if Exxon should pay any punitive damages. The Exxon Valdez oil tanker broke open in 1989. It dumped 11 million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound. The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case sometime in the spring session.

News now from the presidential campaigns. Just minutes ago we learned all eight major Republican presidential candidates will take part in a single debate. It's a face-off sponsored by CNN, YouTube, and the Republican Party of Florida.

The confirmations come as more candidates are turning down debates. In fact, an NBC Iowa debate has just been canceled because candidates weren't interested. This debate in which Web users can submit their questions is now scheduled for November 28th.

Charges expected today in the death of a young women who answered an online job ad. Police suspect a killer pretending to need a nanny.

Julianna Olsen of affiliate KARE has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JULIANNA OLSEN, REPORTER, KARE (voice over): Katherine Olson, as fresh and young as the pink flowers she clutches after performing in "The Sound of Music" last summer.

NANCY OLSON, MOTHER OF SLAIN WOMAN: She wanted adventure, and she danced on the edge.

OLSEN: Olson found some of that adventure, like a nanny job in Turkey on the Internet.

OLSON: She found things online, and we would wring our hands and say, "Have you checked these people out?"

OLSEN: On Thursday, a baby-sitting job she found on Craigslist led Olson to Savage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It seemed kind of fishy, but she was just going to check it out and meet them.

OLSEN: She thought she was meeting with a married couple.

ROLF OLSON, FATHER OF SLAIN WOMAN: If it didn't work, she assumed that she'd be able to turn around and leave and come home. And it didn't work out that way.

OLSEN: Early Friday, police found Olson's purse in a Savage park. Late Friday, they found her car in a Burnsville park. Her body inside the trunk.

CAPT. DAVE MUELKEN, SAVAGE, MINNESOTA, POLICE: I don't have a word to describe how -- this situation. It's very tragic.

OLSEN: Police arrested a 19-year-old Savage man. They suspect he placed the ad. They searched his home just blocks from the park where Olson was found.

R. OLSON: This was evil, and this was human brokenness and...

OLSEN: Olson's father, a pastor, finds no comfort in cliches.

R. OLSON: I absolutely will not accept comments like, "This was God's will."

OLSEN: Olson leaves behind a family who not only grieves for her, but also for a lifetime of people who could have known her and been touched by her.

N. OLSON: We know where Katherine is, and -- so we are not afraid for Katherine. We will miss her terribly. She was a bright light and free spirit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The Craigslist founder says this has never happened before. He says the company works with police to solve crimes tied to the Web. Seeing the signs in time to make a difference. Pediatricians make a new push to inform parents about autism. What you need to know, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Autism, experts say it affects one in 150 children in this country. Today, new recommendations to screen for one of the most mysterious and potentially devastating conditions imaginable.

I talked with Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen a little bit earlier this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Parents sometimes these days think, gee, could my child have autism? And up until now there wasn't really a lot to go on because some of the signs of autism can be hard to pinpoint. But the American Academy of Pediatrics is coming out with a new report, and part of this report is that they are linking to video on the Internet of children who are autistic to help illustrate what an autistic child looks like and what parents can look for.

First we're going to show you video that they show of a child who is typical. This is a child who does not have autism.

You see that child interact with the two adults around him trying to feed Big Bird, interacts with the stuffed animals, smiles. You can see he's connecting with the outside world.

However, a child with autism, it is a very different scene. This child is not connecting even though the adults are tapping him and trying to get him connect. He's really interested in that bowl, and that is pretty much it. He could give Big Bird a bottle, but he's not. And here you see -- this is interesting -- that adult is trying to touch him, trying to make contact, and he wants nothing to do with her.

So there are a couple of things that parents need to look for. And I'm going to run through them now. And these are -- these are just a couple of pinpoints with some dates on them.

At 12 months, if your child is not babbling -- and babbling is, the "Ma, ma, ma, ba, ba, ba" sound that babies make -- or pointing, that's something -- that's a red flag. At 16 months if your child is speaking no words at all, that's another thing you should point out to your pediatrician. And if at two years your child isn't using any phrases, that's another thing you should point out.

And the reason why you want to think about this now at such a young age is that the sooner an autistic child gets help, the better. The quicker you can get that child into some kind of therapy.

COLLINS: Yes. A little bit scary though, I imagine, if people are looking at this on the Internet and trying -- I mean, we don't want to say self-diagnosis, of course, but are trying to see if possibly their child does some of these things. A lot of people could say, oh, my gosh, my child must have autism.

COHEN: Well, you know, I have to say, while I was working on this report, Heidi, I was reading about how repetitive -- repetitive things that kids -- that kids with autism do repetitive things. They might take a bowl off the table, on the table, off the table, on the table, and I was looking at my 1-year-old taking the magnets off the refrigerator, on the refrigerator, off. I mean, she's doing it over and over again, and I thought, golly, that sounds like an autistic behavior. But then she saw her sister and she toddled over to her and make eye contact.

So you have to look at these things as a group. If your child is doing any one of these it is probably not a problem. It's the group. It's your child doing these repetitive behaviors, and your child isn't talking, and your child doesn't make eye contact, and your child doesn't smile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Experts say parents need to trust their gut on this one. If you don't feel your child is connecting the way they should, go to the doctor and get a second opinion.

To get your daily dose of health news online, you can always logon to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library and information on diet and fitness. The address, CNN.com/health.

The Southern California wildfires. Fates cast to the wind. Lives spared by quick thinking and action.

Details now from CNN's Reggie Aqui.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENA BIELASZ, WILDFIRE SURVIVOR: I just can't believe it.

REGGIE AQUI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dena and Dr. Roger Bielasz couldn't save their house. Their house saved them.

ROGER BIELASZ, WILDFIRE SURVIVOR: We saw the light, the power line go down and the fire start, and it started coming this way, so I said, we've got to go. We put our shoes on.

AQUI: But there was nowhere to run. They live at the edge of a San Diego mountain. It drops off into the canyon on three sides. So when the fire came without warning to evacuate, the couple was trapped.

At first, they huddled in the garage.

D. BIELASZ: I started to kind of freak out, and he said, follow my voice. Just stay here. We'll stay here as long as we can and then we're going to go out and we'll go to the pool. AQUI: The pool. The place the couple decided years ago was a refuge of last resort. But fire blocked their path from the garage to the water. They took the chance and made it. At first in the shallow end, but it was too close to their flame-engulfed home, so they swam deeper.

R. BIELASZ: We ducked our head under that overhang.

AQUI: For how long?

R. BIELASZ: Three hours.

D. BIELASZ: Because that was the farthest spot away from the house. But then there were too many embers blowing around, and we felt like they were too exposed. So that's when we had our hands out of the water and we used the, you know, rocks and we use the rocks to work our way, ladder our way over to that ledge, underneath that ledge. I think about three hours.

R. BIELASZ: About three hours.

D. BIELASZ: Yes.

R. BIELASZ: Actually it was about an eternity and a half.

D. BIELASZ: Yes.

AQUI: They waited there until it was safe to get out of the chilly water and walk to find help. But then more worries. Before the fire they told their neighbors about their pool plan. But where were they?

D. BIELASZ: My friends, Chris and Vicki. The other stuff is stuff, but we lost our friends.

AQUI: Chris Bain and Victoria fox didn't make it to the pool because they never made it out of their house. Authorities found their bodies last week. The fire took so much.

R. BIELASZ: The thing that's most important to me is right here.

D. BIELASZ: Yes.

AQUI: But they are thankful for each other and a backyard savior.

D. BIELASZ: I'm keeping the pool. I'm keeping the pool.

AQUI: Reggie Aqui, CNN, Escondido, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Incredible story.

(NEWSBREAK) COLLINS: Teen sex and a 10-year prison sentence. Today Genarlow Wilson is free and talking freely to CNN. What he says, what he plans, ahead in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Out of prison, in the spotlight this morning. Genarlow Wilson went to church on Sunday just hours after Georgia's supreme court ordered him freed. Wilson had had been locked up more than two years. His crime? Having consensual sex with another teen. The state's high court ruled his 10-year sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

He sat down with CNN's Rick Sanchez for his first interview after being released.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENARLOW WILSON, FMR. PRISONER: You can't let everything that you've been through, you know, get the best of you and turn you bitter because you will never achieve anything. You know, I feel like everything I have done and everything that I've endured, it's only made me stronger as a person.

You have to be very open-minded to the situation. Of course, I believe that it was absurd, but, you know, I had to look at it that, you know, these gentlemen were doing their jobs and they felt like they were carrying out the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Later today you can see Rick Sanchez's entire interview with Genarlow Wilson. "OUT IN THE OPEN" airs at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific on CNN.

FEMA, it got ripped for its emergency response to Hurricane Katrina and largely praised for its handling of the California wildfires. That is until word leaked out that it held a news conference with staffers posing as reporters. Today an apology.

CNN's Josh Levs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know how news conferences are supposed to work. Reporters ask questions, officials answer. But what if reporters aren't asking the questions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the FEMA press briefing ...

LEVS: Last week the federal emergency management agency announced a news conference in Washington about what it was doing for victims of the California wildfires, but the agency announced it at the last minute so FEMA says no reporters showed up. They just called in on the listen-only phone line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We understand the secretary ...

LEVS: So who's asking the questions? FEMA says it was their employees. The agency released this video of the news conference.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?

HARVEY JOHNSON, FEMA DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR: I'm very happy with FEMA's response so far.

LEVS: Not exactly hard-hitting journalism. Word got out, embarrassing the White House.

DANA PERINO, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is not a factor that we would employ here at the White House and we certainly don't condone it.

LEVS: FEMA apologized. In a statement, Deputy Administrator Harvey Johnson called it "an error in judgment" and sand "the intent was to provide useful information." A spokesman added that the questions were based on things reporters had contacted FEMA about.

AARON WALKER, FEMA PRESS SECRETARY: We know we did a bad job, but we're doing -- we're getting back on track.

LEVS: That didn't stop Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff who oversees FEMA from tearing in to those responsible.

CHERTOFF: It was one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government and may I make unambiguously clear in Anglo Saxon pros that it will not happen again and there will be disciplinary action against those who exhibited extraordinarily poor judgment.

LEVS (on camera): Here's the kicker. The news conference in which Michael Chertoff made those remarks, FEMA didn't invite all the press to that. FEMA officials say there was only one TV crew invited and that was from the Associated Press.

Josh Levs, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Pulling a prank on the news anchor? Who would do that? OK, well, it's in the Halloween spirit. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Good morning at News 10.

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: I can watch it again and again. Scary stuff. We'll show you more after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

COLLINS: I want to get back to story that we mentioned a little while ago here in the CNN NEWSROOM regarding Iraq and Iraqi soldiers trying to help out with the fires that occurred in Southern California.

CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is standing by now with more on this.

And, Barbara, you tell the story, because I know you're the one who got the e-mail, but it's really an interesting sidebar to all of this.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: You know, Heidi, some days what turns up in your e-mails, it really is heartwarming. We learned about this story just a couple of hours ago. Apparently it was last Thursday when a unit of U.S. Army soldiers that were working with Army troops, training them east of Baghdad, were summoned to a meeting late at night by Colonel Abbas (ph), the local Iraqi commander there. And we want to show you this picture. What was happening was Colonel Abbas and his men in the Iraqi Army had collected $1,000 that they wanted to give these troops to send to the military families, as they call them, in San Diego.

According to what we were told in this e-mail, quoting the army soldier that sent it to us, that we verified all of this, Colonel Abbas said, "I'm honored to participate by sending you a simple fund of $1,000 to the American people in San Diego City to lowering their suffering from the wildfire." A really heartwarming moment, the troops told us, when they got this $1,000 from these Iraqis.

It turns out Colonel Abbas of the Iraqi Army has a bit of a history of philanthropy. Back after Hurricane Katrina, he collected $680 from his men to send to the people of New Orleans. So a bit of a heartwarming moment half a world away -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes, and if I'm looking at the same e-mail that you have there, I think the last line is great, too, when he says, "This is for the feeling of being brothers and friends and for the great connections together." So even though it's only $1,000, to them an awful lot.

STARR: An awful lot of money to Iraqi people, absolutely.

COLLINS: Absolutely. All right, CNN's Barbara Starr from the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, thank you.

STARR: Sure.

COLLINS: One of the FBI's most wanted captured north of the border. He's already escaped five times before. So can they keep this escape artist under wraps this time?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: One of the FBI's most wanted now in custody, but it's not the FBI who has him.

CNN's Susan Roesgen has more on fugitive Richard McNair.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What color eyes you got?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, kind of a turquoise blue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A turquoise blue.

Want to give me some more? You know the bad thing about it, you're matching up to him.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Who could forget this small-town Louisiana cop getting fooled by a smooth talking killer? That was more than a year ago, and Richard McNair has been impossible to catch ever since.

McNair's story begins with a burglary at a grain elevator in Minot, North Dakota, in 1987. As he snuck in, he was startled by the office manager, and shot him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it took me down like this to my back. I ended up -- I don't know if I hit these drawers. I ended up just missing the drawers, I guess, right in here.

ROESGEN: Thinking the manager was dead, McNair shot and killed a truck driver outside the office.

Convicted of murder, McNair was sent to the North Dakota state prison, where he escaped by crawling out an air vent. Recaptured, he came close to escaping several more times and wound up at the federal prison in Pollock, Louisiana. There he worked in the prison mailroom, sorting mail bags like these.

(on camera): Prison officials won't say exactly how he did it, but somehow McNair made an enclosure inside a stack of mailbags, sort of like a beaver dam, crawled inside it, had more mailbags on top, shrink wrapped, and then he was wheeled on a pallet right outside the prison walls.

(voice-over): That was in April of 2006. And after fooling the Louisiana cop, McNair was spotted two weeks later, 1,000 miles away in Canada.

He seemed to have vanished, until the big break last week. Canadian Mounties in New Brunswick spotted this stolen van and chased the driver on foot a quarter of a mile. Until they tackled him, they didn't know they had captured the infamous Richard McNair.

CONSTABLE NELSON LEVESQUE, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTIES: At that point he told me that we all got a big fish.

ROESGEN: But the big fish can be slippery. Just ask that small- town cop back in Louisiana.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be careful, buddy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

OFFICER CARL BORDELON, BALL, LOUISIANA POLICE Still in a shocked stage here that -- once I see him face to face, then I'll know it's true.

ROESGEN: The irony is that if McNair had never escaped in the first place, he probably would have been paroled by now and been tree.

Susan Roesgen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Pulling a prank on the news anchor? Hey, not always a great idea, but this time is really was. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Good morning at News 10...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Scary stuff. Keep it here, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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COLLINS: CNN NEWSROOM continues one hour from now. "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next with news happening across the globe and right here at home.

We'll see you tomorrow, everybody. Have a great day.

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