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Wet Winter Storm; Storm Threat; Mall Massacre Tapes; Bravest Of The Brave; What's Your Question?

Aired December 07, 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: Good morning, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the rundown.

Drenching rains move into southern California this morning. Harrowing accidents, dramatic rescues and possibly mudslides.

COLLINS: They are among the most decorated veterans of the Iraq War. Meet five heroes from the 82nd Airborne. They're wearing new silver stars today.

HARRIS: A dad with his hands full. Triplets arrive healthy, but mom doesn't make it. Joy and grief collide this Friday, December 7th. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

COLLINS: Unfolding this hour now, wet, windy weather creating nasty conditions in southern California. And adding to it all, this terrifying accident in Burbank. A car slid off a freeway and flipped over into a river channel. A swift water rescue went into action and pulled the victims out to safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. RON BELL, BURBANK FIRE DEPARTMENT: Initially we want to find out who is in the vehicle. Are there people in the vehicle? We need to stabilize the vehicle because the water level has dropped since we've been here because the rain has slowed down. Putting our own people down in the water is a very dangerous situation, but sometimes that's what we obviously need to do to get to those people.

We're very lucky because of the water level that we can do that here. We have to tie off that vehicle. Right now it is chained to the side of the wash so that if the water level does come up that it doesn't take off and we're chasing it down the wash. All these things that we're looking at, besides the fact that the water is icy cold, hypothermia sets in immediately with these people that are in the water, whether they're in a vehicle or they just fall into these washes of the L.A. River. So all these things that we're looking at right now, trying to do a very safe, quick operation so that we can get these people to the care that they need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And just as a reminder, with do know that some of those victims were injured. We're talking about two victims there, but it is unclear, at least at this point, how severe those injuries are.

HARRIS: As we've been reporting in southern California, a fierce rainstorm raising the risk of flash flooding and mudslides. Residents have sandbagged vulnerable neighborhoods stripped of vegetation by wildfires. Thousands of people have evacuated. The heavy rain could last through the weekend.

Feeling their pain, Hawaii. Much of that state under water after heavy storms this week. These pictures taken by I-Reporter Chris Williams. Look closely at that. A couch. People surfing there on a couch. Whoo wee, take pictures of me! Send them to CNN.

Rain and flooding isn't the only weather worry in Hawaii. Believer it or not, there are blizzard warnings on two big island mountains. And getting slammed by a major snowstorm right now, several western states, including Utah and Colorado. These pictures were taken in Denver.

COLLINS: Reynolds Wolf is standing by to give us -- oh, look at that, cool -- more of the weather picture because pretty much everywhere you look there is something going on, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Oh, no question about it. I mean hard to believe, especially when you were talking about Hawaii. I mean what would -- if Don Ho were still here to see that. I mean the blizzard warning.

But you have got to remember, folks, I know it's a tropical locale, but when you've got mountain peaks that go to 8,000 feet, a lot of stuff can happen up there. That's where you have that cold air loft. That's where we're having those blizzard warning.

Here's another story that really is pretty much speaks for itself. Take a look at that. Just the torrents of rain coming down the mountainsides. A lot of that mud coming down not only in parts of Hawaii, but also into California.

Let's go back to the weather computer. Already we've shown you one car that was actually in a culvert with those flood waters rushing on through. We may see more of that from Salvan (ph), southward to Los Angeles, right through the basin, maybe up into the San Gabriels near Big Bear City and as far south as San Diego.

Many of the places like where we had the Witch Fire, we could see some issues with mudslides. Not necessarily today because mudslides are a weird thing. It's usually kind of a delayed reaction. You'll have a lot of the rain. It will fall. The ground will absorb it. You won't have the root systems from those grasses to hold that soil in place.

So what happens, the rain goes through it. Then give it a couple of days and that's usually when those mudslides begin to kick up. So we may be dealing with mudslides in this area as we get into Wednesday and Thursday of next week.

As it stands, rain is the story now. We're going to be seeing that from, as I mentioned, from San Diego back up to the L.A. basin, through Riverside, all due to this area of low pressure. All that moisture coming in from parts of the Pacific, as well as the Gulf of California. Now when you get into the higher elevations, the mountains, we're getting that transformation of not rain, but heavy snow. Some places as much as one to three feet as we go into the weekend.

That's your forecast. Let's send it back to you guys.

COLLINS: All right, Reynolds, we'll check in a little later on because I know it will be different by the time we come back to you.

WOLF: Always is.

COLLINS: Thank you, Reynolds.

HARRIS: Well, how about this? In the thick of a major snowstorm out west, CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano, who is chilling out for real, for real as we say in the neighborhood, in Telluride, Colorado.

Rob, good to see you.

Size this thing up. How much snow? It looks good where you are right now, but how much snow are we talking about?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does.

HARRIS: Yes.

MARCIANO: Well, we got a welcome break from the prescription right now. And that does a couple of things. One, we've got some sunlight to help show you exactly what's happening around here in beautiful Telluride. Go the a handful of inches last night. Some spots reporting 10 to 20 inches in some cases.

This is the gondola in town. Not only does it take skiers up and down the area, but it acts as mass transportation for the town. And it's my favorite price. It's free. There you go. That opens up at 7:00 or so.

And then, you know, we're two hours behind Eastern Time, so they haven't quite opened all the lifts yet. This lift that's getting ready to be opened up. They've got the ski school banners. The cattle guard's about ready to be popped up. The groomers have been out. Look at that. Making snow. You know, there's never enough, Tony. There's never enough snow, even when you've got a winter storm warning out. You've got to get those snow makers going because it's December and you've got to build that base and that's what they're doing with the help of not only man maid action but mother nature this entire weekend.

I suspect as this storm gets a little bit closer to us and develops a little bit more, Reynolds has been telling me, we're going to start to get a little bit more action starting later on today and tonight. So we're looking forward to that. HARRIS: Hey, doctor, please tell me, please tell me you're going to hit the slopes just a little bit. We won't tell the folks. It's just between you and me. No one else is watching or listening.

MARCIANO: Just between me and you?

HARRIS: Yes, between -- yes, maybe, maybe.

MARCIANO: I might do a little product sampling. You know, a little investigative reporting.

HARRIS: Product sampling. There you go. Rob Marciano for us. Just lost his shot.

All right. Good to see you, doc. Take care.

COLLINS: A rescue to tell you about from an icy lake. A 45- year-old woman and her 12-year-old daughter went in the water after their car hit black ice on a Michigan road. A few good Samaritans went to help. The mom was pulled from the water, but the girl was stuck in the sinking car. One rescuer had to break the window with his flashlight to save her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CODY HORN, RESCUER: I swiped it around to get the glass out and reached in and grabbed her coat and picked her out of the water and she took a deep breath, started crying and I couldn't believe that she took that breath. It was the hugest relief I have ever had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Both mom and daughter are in the hospital now. The girl is in good condition. The mother is stable.

HARRIS: A baseball legend. Is he also a liar? Barry Bonds heads to court today to face perjury and obstruction charges. The home run king expected to enter a not guilty plea in federal court in San Francisco. He is also to be fingerprinted and have his mug shot taken. Bonds is accused of lying under oath when he said he never knowingly used performance enhancing drugs. This will be his first court appearance since he was indicted last month.

COLLINS: Holiday shopping turns to terror. Bursts of gunfire, shrieks of panic, and frantic 911 calls capture the moments of horror and death. CNN's Ed Lavandera is outside the Omaha mall now where Wednesday's rampage took place.

And, Ed, tell us more about what these tapes are showing us and possibly more with how people are reacting to them.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's almost just the words alone kind of paint the picture for what was happening inside the mall. As you hear people talking about how they were scrambling for cover to survive, ducking into clothes racks, into bathrooms. Doing whatever they can. But the initial calls from what you'll hear, you didn't hear any words at all, but it was just enough to realize exactly what was going on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISPATCHER: 911, what's your emergency?

Hello, 911.

CALLER: Oh, my gosh. It looks like -- it looks like the gun is laying over by customer service. There's an officer there now. I wonder if he . . .

DISPATCHER: Customer service on the third level?

CALLER: Correct. It looks like he might have killed himself.

DISPATCHER: OK. Do you see him laying by the gun?

CALLER: I see him laying by a gun. (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Authorities here in Omaha released a series of those 911 calls. And as you saw, the first one, you couldn't hear anyone speaking on it. You could just hear the gunshots. And then you started hearing from people describing what they were doing to avoid the gunfire and stay alive at the point.

The whole incident lasted just a very short time. In fact, in all, about six minutes long. Not even enough time for any of the mall security or the police officers responding to the scene to do anything to help the victims out. Authorities here in Omaha continue to pour over the text messages and phone calls and look and talk to the people that Robert Hawkins, the shooter in this case, had been talking to in the hours leading up to it. They continue to focus on that part of the investigation here in Omaha.

Heidi.

COLLINS: Ed, have you had a chance to talk to any of the people of Omaha? How are they doing?

LAVANDERA: You know, the reality of what has happened here, and we've heard from some people, especially that were very close to what happened here, talked about how initially all of this really hasn't sunk in at this point. But there's nowhere you go here in Omaha where people aren't thinking about it. There's kind of a subdued sense to what is going on here, especially as you lead into the, you know, holiday weekend, which is supposed to be a time, you know, for shopping at the mall and that sort of thing. Flags around town were quickly lowered to half staff after officials here in Nebraska ordered that to happen. So it's definitely a somber sense here in Omaha.

COLLINS: I bet. There's no question about it. All right, Ed Lavandera for us from Omaha, Nebraska. Thanks so much.

We now know more about Robert Hawkins' victims as well. Gary Scharf was one of two shoppers killed. His ex-wife is sure he protected others right to the end. John McDonald had been married 40 years. He and his wife were getting Christmas gifts wrapped.

Gary Joy was one of the six store employees. His 91-year-old mother says he was a devoted son. Beverly Flynn was a gift wrapper. She was shot once and declared dead at the hospital. Janet Jorgensen was another employee. She was planning a wedding for one grandchild and getting ready for the college graduation of another.

Angie Schuster wanted to teach grade school after college. Instead, she went to work for the store 10 years ago. Dianne Trent loved to grow flowers and nurture friendships with her neighbors. Maggie Webb was a new worker. She was about two weeks shy of her 25th birthday. HARRIS: Startling admission from the CIA. The spy agency admits destroying videotapes showing its operatives using harsh interrogation techniques on two top al Qaeda suspects. The tapes were made in 2002. CIA Director Michael Hayden says they were destroyed years later to protect the safety of undercover officers and because the tapes no longer had intelligence value. He insists the interrogations were lawful. The Senate is investigating.

COLLINS: A brotherhood of men who risk their lives in battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPEC. ANDREW HARRIMAN, SILVER STARR RECIPIENT: I've been with a lot of these guys since, you know, in the last four years and, you know, they're like brothers. And it's, you know, I was glad that if I had to go, I was glad I went with who I did.

COLLINS: Now back home and honored for their bravery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Good morning again, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris. Sixteen degrees. Police say they left the baby in the car while they shopped.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You should never leave, especially a two-and- a-half year old child alone, let alone with a 16 degree temperature outside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Parents in hot water over a cold case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The bravest of the brave. Five American soldiers from one unit show incredible heroism on the battlefield. Now they're the newest recipients of the silver star. CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has their amazing story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): These are the men of the 5th Squadron of the 73rd Cavalry Regiment, one of the smallest units in Iraq. Just 440 paratroopers who spent 15 months patrolling al Qaeda strongholds in the Diyala River Valley. They're perhaps the most decorated unit in Iraq, with more than 20 bronze stars and 60 commendations for valor. They also suffered some of the greatest loss, 22 dead, 95 wounded. The survivors are home now.

SPEC. JEREMIAH CHURCH, SILVER STAR RECIPIENT: I knew I'd been hit right away and it was kind of the same sensation of hitting your funny bone. It was kind of odd. I jumped down in the truck and I was screaming to my buddy, get me a tourniquet, I'm bleeding.

STARR: Yet Specialist Jeremiah Church dove through a hail of enemy gunfire to get more ammunition.

Specialist Andrew Harriman, a medic, ran 100 feet through enemy machine gunfire to rescue a soldier who was bleeding to death.

SPEC. ANDREW HARRIMAN, SILVER STAR RECIPIENT: I had been with a lot of these guys since, you know, the last four years and, you know, they're like brothers, and it's, you know, I was glad that if I had to go, I was glad I went with who I did.

STARR: This is a brotherhood of men who risked their lives. Home now at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on this night, five silver stars are awarded. First Sergeant John Coomer exposed himself to enemy fire, throwing grenades so a medic could get to a wounded soldier.

1ST SGT. JOHN COOMER, SILVER STAR RECIPIENT: There was a good 12, 14, 15 hours after that until really we had a chance to kind of set back on our haunches, regroup, and think about what happened.

STARR: Staff Sergeant Justin Young, wounded in his neck, fought for five days before getting medical treatment. He's already looking ahead.

SGT. JUSTIN YOUNG, SILVER STAR RECIPIENT: We're just coming to visit and see these men and what they think of what we've done.

STARR: Captain Stephen Dobbins was hit by an IED. He crossed an open minefield to save other men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I propose a toast to our fallen comrades.

STARR: Memories of those who didn't make it.

CAPT. STEPHEN DOBBINS, SILVER STAR RECIPIENT: It was tough losing them, but each time they went down fighting, they loved the guys that they were working with on the right and the left, and we continue to fight to honor their sacrifice.

(END VIDEOTAPE) COLLINS: You know, and, Barbara, as I'm listening to that story, I'm just trying to put myself in the -- you can't -- I can't even imagine what it's like for these soldiers to do what they do. I have to ask you, what's next for this unit?

STARR: Well, you know, they're home now. They hope to spend a year at home before they go back. But this was an extraordinary night at Fort Bragg, Tony. Five silver stars awarded in one night. This is part of the legendary 82nd Airborne, of course. A unit that's existed for 90 years. Has been in almost every major combat operation the U.S. military has been in. All of these young paratroopers practically to a man say they would go back and do it again to be with their buddies.

HARRIS: Wow. Wow. And, you know, thank you just doesn't seem to be adequate. At the Pentagon, Barbara Starr for us.

Barbara, thank you. Great story.

STARR: Sure.

COLLINS: Your money, your questions, your chance to have them answered. Gerri Willis and viewer e-mails coming up in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Let's get a quick check of the big board now. New York Stock Exchange, looking at the Dow Jones Industrial averages there, plus seven, resting now at 13,627. Yesterday a big day, a gain of 175 points almost, ended up 13,619. That was a good deal. We're going to continue to watch these business stories. Stephanie Elam is coming up in just a little while. Going to be looking at job growth and then also some mortgage rate freeze an how all of that will work out because there are some people who are pretty darn confused. We'll try and clear it up for you a little bit later.

HARRIS: All right. Let's talk about it. How about it, credit cards, year-end bonuses. Those are some of the topics for you. Here to answer the questions, CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis.

Gerri, good Friday to you.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good to see you, Tony.

Hit me with that first question.

HARRIS: Yes, you ready to dive into -- you absolutely are ready. OK.

Wayne from Pennsylvania writes, "how long," Gerri, "do I have to keep my mortgage before I can refinance?"

WILLIS: Oh, great question. You know, the answer, though, is that it depends. You'll need about 10 percent to 20 percent of equity in your home in order to refinance. So it really depends on how much money you put into your down payment and how much principal you have paid off so far.

So check your mortgage note to see it there are any prepayment penalties. This is a big one. This is a penalty you'll have to pay if you pay off your mortgage early. These penalties may expire after two or three years or it may expire a year after your rate resets if you have an adjustable rate mortgage. It can be a lot. It can be as much as 3 percent.

Now if you're looking to refinance, you'll want to shop around. Rats can vary, vary widely and some lenders are pulling the purse strings tighter these days, making it harder to qualify.

Tony.

HARRIS: Whoa. OK.

Dee from California writes, second question here, "although," Gerri, "I have never requested an increase, my credit card limit moved up to $13,000. I don't think I'll ever need a credit limit that high. If I decline the increase, what are the implications to my credit?" This is another great question.

WILLIS: Hey, good news though. You know what, don't decline the increase even, even if you don't think you'll spend up to that amount.

HARRIS: Well, I'm be tempted. I'm tempted. If I've got it, I'm tempted.

WILLIS: Come on, Tony. You know. Stay at home. Don't go to the mall, OK.

HARRIS: Yes, there you go.

WILLIS: All right. When your credit card limit is increased automatically, it's a good thing for your credit score as long as you don't charge more money on your credit card. You saw that coming. Credit card companies will automatically increase your credit, so you'll be able to spend more. As long as you've been using this credit responsibly, a credit increase is in your favor.

HARRIS: Nice. OK.

Carolyn from Georgia has this question for you. "What is the smartest way," Gerri, "to invest a year -end bonus?"

WILLIS: Well, congratulations on the year-end bonus, Carolyn, first of all. One of the best things you can do is put that money towards maxing out your 401(k). This year you can contribute up to $15,500. Now if you're over 50, you can put away even more, $20,5000.

Now this way you won't be penalized by uncle sam for that holiday bonus. If you have a mortgage, you may want to consider paying down more of your principal. This will reduce the amount of interest you end up paying over the life of the loan.

And, finally, it's always a good idea to check your emergency fund. Do you have enough money? Make sure you have at least three to six months worth of living expenses in case the worst happens. And if you need to pad your fund, consider a high-yield savings or (ph) money market account.

HARRIS: That is outstanding.

WILLIS: If you have any questions you'd like us to answer, send us an e-mail to toptips@cnn.com. We love to hear from you and we answer those questions right here every Friday.

HARRIS: Great questions. You know, I have to get, at least before you go, an idea of what's coming up on the big "Open House" show this weekend.

WILLIS: Hey, this is very exciting. I'm talking to the Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, about the president's plan to freeze subprime mortgage rates. I know folks have questions about that. We've got the details coming up Saturday morning, 9:30, right here on CNN. Join us for "Open House."

HARRIS: We'll do. Gerri, great weekend. Good to see you.

WILLIS: You too.

COLLINS: Mortgage relief. President Bush announcing a plan he says will rescue 1.25 million homeowners facing foreclosure. But not everyone caught in the subprime debacle will benefit. Who's served and who's left behind? If you are confused about the housing market, we'll try to help. You can send us your questions. The address, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. Real estate expert Elise Calink (ph) will answer some of them on the air right here in the 11:00 Eastern hour.

HARRIS: A question of faith. Can a Mormon be elected president? What people are saying about Mitt Romney's speech on religion.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Hard questions, no easy answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't say that I even had the perception that he was troubled. I would say that I had the perception that, you know, he had some difficult -- a difficult past, to say the least.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: We are learning new details about the mall shooter, Robert Hawkins. The story just ahead.

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Tony Harris and Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: Bottom of the hour. Welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins.

Want to talk about the weather today because it seems no matter what direction you look there is something going on. In fact, wet, windy weather creating really treacherous conditions in Southern California, and adding to it all, this terrifying accident in Burbank. A car slid off a freeway and flipped over into a river channel. A swift water rescue went into action and pulled the victims to safety.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. RON BELL, BURBANK FIRE DEPT.: Initially we want to find out who is in the vehicle. Are there people in the vehicle? We need to stabilize the vehicle because the water level has dropped just since we've been here because the rain has slowed down. Putting our own people down in the water is a very dangerous situation, but sometimes that's what we obviously need to do to get to those people. We're very lucky because the water level that we can do that here. We have to tie off that vehicle. Right now it is chained to the side of the wash so that if the water level does come up, that it doesn't take off and we're chasing it down the wash.

All these things that we're looking at, besides the fact that the water is icy cold. Hypothermia sets in immediately with these people that are in the water, whether they're in a vehicle or they just fall into these washes or the L.A. River.

So all these things that we're looking at right now, trying to do a very safe, quick operation, so we can get these people to the care that they need.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: We do know that the two victims were injured, but it's unclear how severe those injuries are.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: You know, we are getting a clearer picture this morning of how the mall shooting unfolded, and more information about the young shooter's past.

CNN's Gary Tuchman is in Omaha.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first call to 911 had no voice at the other end.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

(GUNSHOTS)

911 DISPATCHER: Nine-one-one. what's your emergency?

(GUNSHOTS)

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: Just the chilling sound of gunshots.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

(GUNSHOTS)

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: The operator couldn't be sure what was going on. But then he heard the voices.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is someone with a gun shooting people in Von Maur at Westroads.

911 DISPATCHER: OK. We are on our way out there. Have you seen anybody that was shot?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No.

911 DISPATCHER: OK. They're on their way out there. Did anybody see the person shooting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a bunch of people shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) shot up (INAUDIBLE) Oh, my God. Help us.

911 DISPATCHER: Ma'am, ma'am, get away from that woman, so I can hear what you are saying, will you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Jesus.

911 DISPATCHER: Now...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said there are a bunch of people shot inside of Von Maur.

911 DISPATCHER: OK. Then (INAUDIBLE) The police are on their way.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: One of those gunshots was a self-inflicted one that killed 19-year-old Robert Hawkins after he murdered eight other people. The question is why?

Flags were at half staff all over Omaha, including the McDonald's where Hawkins worked before apparently being fired this week. People who knew him, including friend Shawn Sanders, said he long suffered from depression. SHAWN SANDERS, HAWKINS' FRIEND: I'm not sure the level of his depression. I just know he was on anti-depressants for the last couple of months, and I guess it was getting worse over time with the loss of his job, and I guess he had issues going on with the girlfriend at the time.

TUCHMAN: Hawkins was placed in a mental health treatment center in 2002 after making homicidal threats against his stepmother. He spent much of his teenage years in treatment centers.

And in a police report filed last year, he alleged he was molested by a roommate at a group home. The state defends its treatment of him.

TODD LANDRY, NEBRASKA CHILDREN FAMILY SERVICES: Based on our review, we believe that this tragedy was not a failure of the system to provide appropriate, quality services for a youth that needed it.

TUCHMAN: He wanted to join the Army, saying he wanted to leave Omaha, but was turned down by recruiters.

SGT. EDWARD DUST, ARMY RECRUITER: I wouldn't say that I even had the perception that he was troubled. I would say that I had the perception that, you know, he had some difficult -- a difficult past, to say the least.

TUCHMAN: In the Omaha suburb of Papillion, Nebraska, Hawkins went to Papillion La Vista High School, but dropped out. The principal said he did not appear to be bullied, but was uninvolved with school. And added he met with Hawkins many times, but just couldn't inspire him.

JIM GLOVER, PAPILLION LA VISTA HIGH SCHOOL: While he was at Papillion La Vista High School, he had a number of infractions that were minor. Robert never, ever showed any hostility toward our staff or to our students.

TUCHMAN: Hawkins no longer lived with his family, moving into this home with a friend and the friend's mother.

DEBORA MARUCA KOVAC, ROBERT HAWKINS' LANDLORD: He was a depressed person. He had been very depressed, but it looked like he was getting better. He'd gotten a job, HE got a car, got his driver's license, SO things were looking better for him.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Neighbors we talked to say they would see Hawkins going in and outside the house. They say he seemed like a nice kid, no problems whatsoever. They assumed he was part of the family.

(voice-over): Now they know differently.

GLOVER: You know, it is tough because somewhere along the line somebody failed, and probably all of us.

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Omaha, Nebraska. (END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: You heard him defend his Mormon faith and reach out to the Christian Right. So, what's the reaction now to Mitt Romney's speech on religion? As promised, we brought back two of our CNN contributors to talk a little more about that. TV One commentator Roland Martin is with us from New York this morning.

Hi there, Roland.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Doing great.

COLLINS: And on the phone from Arlington, Virginia, Bill Bennett, host of "Bill Bennett's Morning in America." Hey there, Bill.

I want to ask you guys about what your listeners had to say this morning in reaction to the speech yesterday.

Roland, why don't I begin with you. Were people talking about it?

MARTIN: Absolutely, we talked about it for about an hour and a half this morning. What most of the people said, they said, look, I don't care what this guy's faith is. But they made clear, they want someone who was a believer. They kept saying the issues are important. I said, OK, what if there was an atheist who was there on the issues. They said, no, I want a believer. But they made it clear, they don't care if he's a Mormon. They want to know where does he stand on the critical issues.

They said, look, President Bush, a bigtime Christian, but they disagree with his administration of the Iraq War.

COLLINS: OK, so what I'm hearing you saying is that people want a person of faith, they just don't care which faith it is.

Bill, how about your listeners? What do they say?

BILL BENNETT, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's complementary to that. That's very interesting. Very strong reviews. People thought he meant what he said. He's a conviction politician. They like that. And, yes, they liked a man of faith declaring himself as to his faith.

They were not interested, almost to a caller, in the differences between Mormon and other kinds of Christian faiths. One or two people. This may be a story that people are trying to create that maybe isn't there.

Several people said they thought he got himself the nomination yesterday. They were so moved by it.

The other thing, I think, of interest as we go forward, less emphasis on the differences here among different believers, and what people said is what you've got to see Romney was doing was putting down a marker about believers versus the people -- the radical secularists, as one caller said, who don't want any faith in the public square. I think there's big majorities from that, if I can assume both from my audience and Roland's.

COLLINS: Yes, no, it is fascinating. I was very curious to see how this was going to play with the American people.

In fact, there are a number of editorials written about it, as I'm sure you both saw -- "New York Times," "Washington Post" "Wall Street Journal," just to name a few.

In fact, I want to put this one on the screen now from "The Wall Street Journal." Listen to this: "Mr. Romney's implicit purpose, though, was to speak to the ecumenical alliance called "the religious right," which is united on some political issues but often divided on matters of faith. He noted that's "a common creed of moral convictions" brings him to the same policy conclusions as evangelical Protestants and conservative Catholics. The political church, in other words, is broad enough to include Mormons, even if their doctrines aren't simpatico."

Do you think that your listeners are going to agree with that, Roland?

MARTIN: But you know what, here is the part of the problem there, when they say the political church, we have to acknowledge that when you speak of who Romney was talking to. Frankly, he was indeed speaking to the religious right, but there's, indeed, a religious middle and a religious left. So I think we've got to be very careful when we say how people of faith are going to vote, because my listeners -- many of them are progressive liberal -- they say, look, I'm a strong believer in faith, but then there are some other issues that I care about that maybe Romney is not going to necessarily support. And so you've got to be very careful in terms of how we acknowledge the political church.

COLLINS: Yes, you know, and it's a good point, because I actually get kind of tired hearing of conservative Christians, because I believe that there are Christians who aren't always conservative. I mean, it's always seemed like an odd term to me.

Bill, what about you? Do you think this editorial is on the money?

BENNETT: Sure, sure, sure, but one fight at a time, and that is -- Roland, you know what I'm going to say here. Differences on the left and the right about whether to support Romney or not, but the first fight and the one they were glad to be invited to yesterday was not a fight among the faithful, whether they go left or right, but a united front of the faithful against those who want to banish faith...

MARTIN: I agree.

BENNETT: ... from the public sphere. People love that.

Now they turn around and say, OK, but now what are his positions? A lot of my audience would be inclined to support him. My guess is a lot of Roland's wouldn't, but that's not so interesting. The fact that large majorities like a man to say faith has an important place in public life in America.

COLLINS: Yes, and I think those words that he said were pretty strong. In fact, "The Washington Post" says this now. Let's get this in real quick: "Where Mr. Romney most fell short, though, was in his failure to recognize that America is composed of citizens not only of different faiths but of no faith at all and that is the genius of America is to treat them all with equal dignity. Freedom requires religion just as a religion requires freedom. Mr. Romney said, but societies can be both secular and free. The magnificent cathedrals of Europe may be empty, as Mr. Romney said, but the democracies of Europe are thriving."

Now there will be people who will disagree with that, but, Roland, what will you think?

MARTIN: Well, bottom line is he was not going to talk to those who are not of faith, and that's what this was about. I mean, he was trying to quell this whole issue of him being a Mormon, but also solidify that I am a person of faith, and that's what my listeners kept saying. They said he is a believer in God. He's a person of faith. That's what matters to me. But again, when I asked the whole notion of addressing those who don't believe in God, they said that's not my concern.

BENNETT: Yes, that's right. For another day I actually think the formulation is half right and half wrong that Romney had. I don't think there is freedom without religion. You can talk about the cathedrals of Europe, but that has to do with the fact that religion was there once, believe me. That has a lot to do -- you don't have the Judeo-Christian tradition, you don't have the traditions of freedom.

But I think he's wrong to say that there's no religion without freedom. Oppression does not seem to be getting rid of religion. People are oppressed, they are in slavery, and faith gets stronger, not weaker.

The real challenge may be madernity. Sols Zanesteen (ph) said, we can survive oppression. Can we survive affluence? He thought that was a great challenge.

COLLINS: Yes, yes. All right, excellent point. Hey, guys, I appreciate it so much. We said we were going to have you on today and wanted to follow through to find out what people were talking about on your radio programs. Once again, Bill Bennett, our CNN contributor and host of "Morning in America" and Roland Martin our CNN contributor, coming to us from New York today.

MARTIN: Thanks so much.

BENNETT: Thank you.

COLLINS: Thank you, gentlemen.

A toddler police say left alone on a freezing night. His parent now feeling the heat.

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(BUSINESS HEADLINES)

COLLINS: It's Friday, but as you well know the news doesn't stop for the weekend. Here now, T.J. Holmes with a look ahead to "CNN SATURDAY."

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody.

Got three words for you -- Oprah, Obama and Iowa. Yes, the queen, the queen of talk, hitting the campaign trail tomorrow. We'll be there live to cover it tomorrow.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is a tight race. Will her impact on voters actually live up to all this hype? Well, the best political team on television has the answers.

HOLMES: Also, who is really to blame for the mortgage meltdown in this country. If you don't care, you need to care. We'll show you how this is hurting every single American, even those who don't own homes.

NGUYEN: And are you paying big bucks for designer handbag, maybe even designer tie or scarf this holiday season? You may think that that expensive purse has been handcrafted. That's not always the case. It could be made in China on the sly. We're keeping them honest.

HOLMES: "CNN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY MORNING" beginning tomorrow at 7:00 Eastern.

HARRIS: And still to come this morning, a father celebrates newborn triplets as he mourns his wife.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She'd expect me to be strong, and she'd want me to do what I have to do and take care of those kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A dad in need. All hands on deck.

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COLLINS: A little boy in a van, big trouble for the parents. This is surveillance video from a Costco store in Indianapolis. See the couple with the little girl? Police say they left their other child, a 2 1/2-year-old, in their van. It was cold, too, 16 degrees.

According to police, Costco workers heard the little boy screaming and alerted an off-duty officer. A police lieutenant says the child there was left alone for close to 40 minutes. He was OK. His parents now face child neglect charges. The kids are with Child Protective Services.

HARRIS: A father's joy tempered by pain. He celebrates the birth of his triplets, but mourns his wife. Sandy Ruthbun (ph) of CNN affiliate, KVOA, has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDY RUTHBUN (ph), KVOA REPORTER: They're daddy's little boys. Triplets Legend, Trystan (ph), and Jason, born six weeks premature a week ago a day.

ANDRUE SMITH, FATHER OF TRIPLETS: That's all I wanted, you know, was a son.

RUTHBUN: You can see the love in Andrue Smith's eyes. Love and sorrow, because his wife, Debbie, will never see her babies.

SMITH: Debbie's gone.

RUTHBUN: Andrue says out of the blue, his wife got deathly ill. Doctors saved the boys, but couldn't save her.

SMITH: My wife's heart had stopped beating. Her body suffered and her brain suffered. It's the kind of thing that people don't recover from.

RUTHBUN: So Andrue made the difficult decision to discontinue life support.

SMITH: Very hard. I can't imagine life without her.

RUTHBUN: Numb, this 28-year-old is trying.

SMITH: My wife, I know she'd expect me to be strong, and she'd want me to do what I have to do and take care of those kids.

RUTHBUN: Andrue has a full-time construction job, but questions whether he earns enough to afford child care. And if he quits his job, how will he pay his mortgage?

SMITH: Absolutely anything anybody can help out with and contribute, I'm very happy to accept anything. I've got these three babies, my three boys, to worry about, and that's what's keeping me strong.

RUTHBUN: Andrue calls them "daddy's little army."

Sandy Rathbun, News 4.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: So clearly there you have a dad who needs some help. We should pass along this information. The Debra L. Smith Family Memorial Fund has been set up at Wells Fargo Bank.

COLLINS: Rain drenches southern California. Harrowing rescues to show you. Plus, a good chance of mudslides this weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Ask your parents, your grandparents where were they on this morning 66 years ago. If they're old enough, chances are they will remember this. The Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. It was the trigger for the U.S. entry into World War II. President Franklin Roosevelt called it "the day of infamy."

More than 3,400 people were killed or injured. Ceremonies marking the anniversary are being held at the USS Arizona Memorial. Several survivors of the attack are expected there.

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