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Caught on Tape: Deputy's October Encounter With Gary Michael Hilton; Short-lived Freedom for One of Two New Jersey Jail Escapees; Guns and Mental Patients

Aired January 09, 2008 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Video of push also coming to shove at the tip of the Persian Gulf. Sailors scramble and cameras roll as Iranian speedboats buzz American warships.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Wait until you hear the radio traffic. Iran says it's a fraud. We're going to hear from a veteran of these very waters this hour.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: A man accused of killing a Georgia hiker back in court this afternoon. Gary Michael Hilton now faces a murder charge, but he won't face the death penalty. That's because of a deal that he made with prosecutors that led him to Meredith Emerson's body on Monday.

An autopsy indicated that Emerson died of blunt force trauma to the head, and authorities say it happened three days after she disappeared. Cops are still digging into Hilton's past and whether that may include other deaths and disappearances in the area. One Georgia deputy remembers meeting Hilton just a couple months ago. The conversation caught on tape by his dashboard camera.

More now from reporter Jeff Dore of our affiliate WSB.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF DORE, REPORTER, WSB (voice over): Hunting season had just started October 26th when Deputy Will Ballard (ph) went to a private hunting preserve to evict a trespassing camper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I get your I.D. real quick?

GARY MICHAEL HILTON: Yes, you sure can.

DORE: The two talked for more than 20 minutes, during which Hilton was lively, animated and very talkative. Cherokee County stores all the dash cam video, and when Hilton's name came up in the Meredith Emerson case, Deputy Ballard remembered it.

SHERIFF ROGER GARRISON, CHEROKEE COUNTY, GEORGIA: It is some amazing video footage that is very clear and probably as good as anybody has at this point.

DORE: Hilton said he was a former paratrooper.

HILTON: What I'm doing is now I'm just on professional (ph) field (ph) maneuver.

DORE: Hilton told the deputy hunters had warned him if he stayed there he could get shot.

HILTON: I'm leaving. I'm getting out of here. God almighty.

DORE (on camera): This is where Hilton was camped out, down two miles of dirt roads. Deputy Ballard checked him out very carefully, at one point noticing his fanny pack and asking, "You got any weapons in it?"

HILTON: Absolutely not, and I will bring it to you.

DORE (voice over): The deputy persisted.

GARRISON: And then Mr. Hilton says, "I have got an expandable baton in there. Don't get nervous."

DORE: Investigators found a baton near where Meredith Emerson disappeared. After the deputy ran Hilton's I.D. and found no warrants on him, he let him drive off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take care and be safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Two jailbirds, one recaptured, the other -- well, that's not 100 percent clear on what is going to happen there. We are hearing about Mexico and a surrender deal that involves Al Sharpton.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick is following this fascinating story and joins us now from New York today with the very latest -- Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, authorities say that the two escapees were missing almost a full day, some 20 hours, before anyone even noticed they were gone. One of them is now in custody, 21-year-old killer Jose Espinosa. He was captured last night half a mile from the county jail he escaped from three weeks ago.

Now, how he was hiding in a basement apartment with a 19-year-old female friend when a team of U.S. Marshals, sheriff deputies and police converged and arrested him. Espinosa, who put up no struggle, was lying on a couch, his foot raised. And authorities believe he injured his ankle during the escape and that's why he couldn't get farther than he did.

Now, the second inmate, 32-year-old Otis Blunt, is still at large. There's an all-out manhunt right now to find him. He seems to be trying to negotiate a surrender through his lawyer and the Reverend Al Sharpton, who is returning from Mexico City. Authorities not happy that Sharpton has kept them in the dark about his contact with Blunt. Now, a clear picture is emerging of how this escape went down. It took the prisoners two weeks to chisel out two cinderblocks, one between the cells, the other to the wall leading outside. The men used a valve wheel, one of them stolen from a pipe, and passed it between them, hiding concrete pieces in a storage box, then flushing the dust and covering the hole with pictures. They made their escape after visiting day, slipping through an 18 inch hole and taking a giant leap across a razor wire fence, landing on train tracks some 30 feet below.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THEODORE ROMANKOW, UNION COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, PROSECUTOR: They exited the jail, and our investigations reveal that they didn't have sneakers on, they had flip-flops. But what they did do is take some sheets and tie them around their feet. We later discovered these particular street or strips of sheeting down the railroad tracks which we didn't indicate to the world. We kept it to ourselves. We knew generally the direction that one of them had followed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Now, authorities suggest that the visitors may have helped the prisoners get away from the prison, at least initially. So why didn't anyone notice sooner? Well, that is still under investigation, especially since a reenactment showed that the digging would have been very, very loud. The prisoners did use decoys. They stuffed dummies in their beds.

They also left a note taunting a prison guard, thanking him for providing tools and saying, "You're a real pal. Happy holidays." Now, that guard committed suicide last week even though officials do not believe he was involved in the escape. When a reporter questioned Espinosa about the suicide, here is what he had to say...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you like to say anything, Mr. Espinosa?

JOSE ESPINOSA, PRISON ESCAPEE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any regrets? Any concerns? You know that a corrections officer committed suicide.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That officer killed himself.

ESPINOSA: It wasn't my fault.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It wasn't your fault? He committed suicide. He felt horrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Espinosa now faces a charge of escape that could add three years to a possible 17-year term he faces for pleading guilty to manslaughter in 2005. The 19-year-old woman with him was taken into custody, charged with resisting arrest. And as for Otis Blunt, well, he was in prison for weapons and robbery charges, and right now there is an all-out manhunt to find him -- Don.

LEMON: All right. CNN's Deborah Feyerick.

Deborah, thank you for your report.

PHILLIPS: It is the first move to strengthen U.S. gun control laws in 14 years. President Bush has signed legislation aimed at keeping guns away from mental patients. The bill was first proposed more than five years ago, but only gained traction after the Virginia Tech massacre.

CNN's Brianna Keilar joins us now from Washington.

Brianna, how will the law protect people from gunmen like Cho?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, remember that Seung-Hui Cho basically fell through the cracks. When he applied to buy a gun in Virginia, he shouldn't have been able to, because a judge had determined him to be a danger to himself or others.

That information though was never entered into this national background check database. No red flag popped up. And then Cho was actually approved to purchase two handguns. This law that President Bush signed yesterday allows more money for states. The point being that they will have more funding to make sure that people like Cho don't slip through the cracks and that this information is shared -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, there are gun control advocates who are not happy with the law, right?

KEILAR: Well, yes and no. The interesting thing here is that you've got both the National Rifle Association and the Brady campaign, which is for gun control and is normally at odds with the NRA, and they are both supporting this bill. But this bill does something that has gun control groups besides the Brady campaign calling foul.

Now, if states get grant money under this law, they must also provide a program that will allow people who are determined to be a danger to themselves or others to appeal that label, try to prove they are no longer a danger, and basically argue to get the right to own a gun reinstated. Also, the V.A., the Veterans Administration that oversees the health of vets, would also have to supply (ph) this appeals program.

And one gun control group says that because of this, you have got some unstable and potentially dangerous people who can exploit this loophole and then regain the right to own a gun. But then on the flip side, you know, you've got the NRA, who, for instance, says, you may have someone who is, for instance, a soldier who comes back from Iraq and is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as in unfit to possess a gun, but then a few years later may be fine, and is still denied his or her constitutional right to own a gun, and they say this law fixes that problem -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Brianna Keilar, live from Washington. Appreciate it.

All right. We want to get you live now to Nevada, and if you can see this, this is the Culinary Workers Union, and they have endorsed Barack Obama. The reason this is important, it's 60,000 members here, and the culinary union, representing hotel, restaurant and laundry workers in Nevada's casino industry, is the largest and best organized labor union in that state.

It gives Barack Obama, according to political pundits, a major advantage in Nevada, where Hillary Clinton has long enjoyed a solid support from the Democratic establishment and a hefty lead in the polls there. So the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada endorsing the senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, today. They're doing that in Nevada.

After Hillary Clinton's stunning win over Barack Obama in New Hampshire, attention shifts to South Carolina, whose Democratic primary is January 26th. There, the African-American vote is seen as crucial to both Democratic front-runners.

CNN's Dan Lothian reports from Columbia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): African-Americans in South Carolina are very aware of the power of their vote in the state's upcoming Democratic primary.

TODD SHAW, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: If a Democratic candidate is going to make headway in the deep south and this being a bellwether Deep South state, you need the black vote to do that.

LOTHIAN: And two candidates, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been aggressively courting that vote, creating an interesting dynamic that Shaw says has divided the African-American community.

SHAW: There is both the electability question with Obama and the sense that there's another Clinton on the ticket.

LOTHIAN: Loyalty to the Clintons, long-time allies of the black community versus Obama, a relative unknown. At this Colombia barbershop, Damon Hardy says he's supporting Obama but as he gave me a much needed haircut explained why some blacks are still waffling.

LOTHIAN (on camera): Your other friends out there, what's the sense?

DAMON HARDY, OWNER, BLAC BOC'S: It's like they want Obama to win but they don't want their vote to be wasted on someone who they don't think is going to win. They don't really think Obama has a chance, so they're voting Hillary Clinton because of her experience.

LOTHIAN: Do you think that's going to change though when people start seeing that white people are voting for him?

HARDY: Oh, yes. That's going to change a lot.

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Senator John Edwards won the South Carolina primary in 2004, but the political landscape has changed in his native state. The battle between a message of experience or change has energized African-Americans here, even as some South Carolinians try to decide which way to go.

LOTHIAN: Which way are you leaning right now?

IDELA ISRAEL, SOUTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC VOTER: Right now, I'm not too sure, but I think it's going to be Obama.

LOTHIAN: Back at the barbershop, this Obama supporter is optimistic but not overly confident.

HARDY: Hillary has a good chance too, now.

LOTHIAN (on camera): Yes.

HARDY: She has a great chance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, you won't be shocked to hear that the U.S. and Iran don't see eye to eye over the confrontation Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. Navy, who had shot this video, says it almost fired on five Iranian speedboats that menaced a trio of American warships.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am coming to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inbound small craft, you are approaching a coalition warship operating in international waters. Your identity is not known, your intentions are unclear. You are straying into danger and may be subject to defensive measures. Request you establish communications now or alter your course immediately to remain clear of me. Request you alter course immediately to remain clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You will explode after a few minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "You will explode after a few minutes."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, after downplaying the run-in at first, well, Iran now claims the Navy video is old and the audio is fabricated. Alex Fraser is a retired U.S. Navy captain quite familiar with this in the Persian Gulf. He now works here at CNN. He joins us with his insight of the latest flap there with Iran.

And just when you're listening to that and it says, "You will explode," I mean, it sounds like a computer-generated voice. I mean, what is your take?

ALEX FRASER, U.S. NAVY (RET.): My take is that's a very provocative voice that's on the radio. It's coming across very clear. Whether it's on the boats or ashore, you can't tell, but it is provocative. And combined with the boats that are coming in at high speed, it would make a ship captain think that there's something going on here.

PHILLIPS: But these were small speedboats, and the communications were pretty clear. I mean, was that voice coming from those speedboats or was it coming from another place? Because we know how coms work. I mean, you're on headsets and you hear the rush of the water when you're in those small boats.

FRASER: With the wind, with the waves bouncing you around, you would think that voice would be coming and going with the breeze. That didn't happen. It's pretty clear.

So it's coming from somewhere else in the Gulf probably, but you are not really sure. But the Gulf is an area where the water temperature and humidity allow short-range communications to cover the entire Gulf. So what was going on, on that radio, everybody from Bahrain, down to the Emirates, could probably hear it.

PHILLIPS: Now, let's talk about those international waters. Who was breaking the law? Because there are certain places that U.S. Navy ships can be, and there are certain places, right, where Iranian ships are not supposed to come in to -- next to U.S. ships. So what happened?

FRASER: Well, there are two things here. One is, the international law of the sea allows countries to have 10 miles in their territorial limits and other ships can't come in there unless they get permission.

The other part to that is ships have rights to transit small straits, as long as they stay on the navigational channels and as long as they continue and don't stop. In this case, the Strait of Hormuz, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Strait of Malacca, all of those straits, everybody has a right to transmit.

PHILLIPS: Now, sources within the Navy said to me they came this close, as in Iran came this close, to getting blown up. So what are the rules of engagement?

FRASER: The engagement rules is where the captain has to decide, where is the hostile intent? Now, there is a whole series of things that you can use to check those blocks.

In this case, here's a small boat that's charging at you. You have a guy on the radio that's telling you that they are going to blow you up, and you have to decide, do those actions really constitute enough of a reason to open fire? In this case, the captain exercised remarkable constraint and did the right thing.

PHILLIPS: So why do you think they did not open up fire on the Iranian boats? What would it have taken to fire on those Iranian boats?

FRASER: To fire on the boats, they would probably have had to come a little closer. They were running around in a disorganized manner. I that a lot the video that we saw, you could see them going around the three-ship column that they were in. Had they actually come in a little bit closer and continued the radio communications in the threatening manner that they were doing, that would have caused someone to shoot.

PHILLIPS: So, did you ever experience anything like this when you were in charge of the ships? Did you have any close calls?

FRASER: When your gun can shoot further than the other guy's gun, you generally don't get as close unless you are in a situation like this. There have been numerous instances where this type of thing did happen.

Remember in the Gulf wars and the transit problems for ships in the late '80s, the U.S. Navy (INAUDIBLE) with tankers in order to protect them. One of our ships hit a mine, another one was peppered by a machine gun. The USS Stark was hit by a (INAUDIBLE) missile. All of these things sort of make a captain think about the naval history of the area take the appropriate action.

PHILLIPS: So, tell me, did you ever have to open fire?

FRASER: The answer is yes. One time we were trying to get a boat to stop. It didn't stop. Went through the warnings like you heard on the radio here.

There's a level one warning which tells you to tell us what you are doing. The second warning says you are standing into danger, alter course, or you will be subject to U.S. defensive measures. Now, they didn't stop, and so we fired across the bow. They still didn't stop, and the next night some Navy SEALS came down ropes, took the ship over, and they stopped.

PHILLIPS: That's how the Navy operates. I don't think Iran wants to mess with U.S. Navy ships.

Alec Fraser, thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

FRASER: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice over): Every farmer knows that earthworms are good for the soil. They aerate it, they fertilize it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somebody (INAUDIBLE).

STEVENS: In India, Dr. Suneet Dabke has big plans for the humble earthworms he has been studying for the past dozen years. He says they can do a lot more for the earth than just fertilize it.

SUNEET DABKE, BIOCHEMIST: This one is going to do some magic for us. They are going to take the soil into their body and going to excrete out the good nutrients to the side.

STEVENS: Dr. Dabke says worms can remove toxic waste from contaminated soil just by doing what comes naturally -- bad stuff in, good stuff out. In 2006, Dabke received a $15,000 grant from international NGO The Blacksmith Group (ph) to recover the cost of removing four acres of waste using earthworms. Initially about 300,000 worms were released. A year later, soil tests showed a 60 percent reduction of heavy metals. An additional 100,000 worms were added later, along with natural soil conditioners to help to absorb the remaining waste.

DABKE: We are condensing (ph) -- we are reducing the volume of toxic waste from such a huge amount to such a small amount.

STEVENS: Good news for the farmers, but bad news for the worms. They are sifted out of the earth and burned after their work is done. The heavy metals they've absorbed are released into the air where Dr. Dabke says they do less harm than in the soil.

But for the next two years, these worms will live a worm's version of the good life, happily munching their way through the soil, helping India digest its toxic waste.

Andrew Stevens, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Well, the candidates have moved on and New Hampshire keeps its title as the wild card in primary politics. Today, a lot of people are wondering about those pre-primary polls and the Garden State. Say that three times fast, pre-primary polls and the Garden State.

Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider is in New York with some 20/20 hindsight. Bill Schneider, let's break down these numbers for you. A surprise on both sides really, but the Democratic race, I would think, gave us the night's biggest surprise.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. The pre-primary polls had indicated that it was going to be a big night for Barack Obama, which raised expectations and then when Hillary Clinton turned out to win, boy, that was a big surprise and it made her win all that bigger. Now, women were the force that did it for her. As you see here, they voted for Clinton over Obama by 12 points. In Iowa, women had voted for Obama, then they switched. Why did that happen? A lot of people think she showed emotion, but it could be the economy which is a top issue on the minds of all New Hampshire voters, big issue was the economy and those voters who said the economy was the issue that drove their vote voted heavily for Clinton almost ten points over Obama.

LEMON: Well, OK. And would you -- when you said she showed emotion, I don't know, did she show emotion or was she just sort of being more real at that moment then -- she didn't look so much like a prepared candidate?

SCHNEIDER: Well, there's a big debate over that ...

LEMON: Yes.

SCHNEIDER: ...how authentic it was, but -- and at least it's a plausible hypothesis that won her some women's votes.

LEMON: Yes, OK, so what about the Republican side, what do the numbers tell us there, Bill?

SCHNEIDER: Well, this is interesting. John McCain beat George Bush in New Hampshire in 2000. Now, when we asked people there -- the Republican voters in New Hampshire their opinion of the Bush administration, half of them had a negative opinion. They said they were dissatisfied or angry with Bush, and look at how they voted. Those who were unhappy with the Bush administration voted for McCain over Romney by a big margin, 14 points.

So it appears that in 2008 just like in 2000, McCain was the anti-Bush candidate, that residual effect was still strong even though he had reconciled with Bush on immigration and on Iraq.

Another thing driving the McCain vote, personal qualities. Voters who said personal qualities were more important than issues voted for McCain by a 20-point margin over Mitt Romney. What kind of personal qualities are they talking about? They said they thought McCain says what he believes, that he had more experience. Voters who said ideology was important, the issues were important, they voted their values, they were Romney voters, but voters who said it was a personal vote, that was the McCain vote.

LEMON: And you know what was interesting about that, Bill, was because the McCain campaign, I mean really, he had a lot of trouble there, even some reports that he was running out of money, Mitt Romney has tons of money. To me, you know, the Democrats, yes, that was surprising, but the whole McCain thing was just probably the more interesting part of the night for me and the whole political thing right now. I mean, he is sort of resurging.

SCHNEIDER: He has come back, and it happened really since Iowa. Here's what's interesting. He got an Iowa bounce and he didn't even do very well in Iowa. It happened because Mitt Romney came in second in Iowa and sort of deflated in New Hampshire as a result and his chief competitor there, John McCain.

LEMON: All right, Bill Schneider, thank you, sir. I hope you're rested from last night, you were up late.

SCHNEIDER: A little.

LEMON: Yes, you did a nice job last night, I watched you guys until you went off the air.

SCHNEIDER: Thank you.

LEMON: Thanks a lot.

For more on the New Hampshire primary, and the next stops for the presidential candidates, go to cnnpolitics.com. It is your one-stop shop for all things political.

PHILLIPS: Flooding and tragedy along Indiana's Tippecanoe River -- actually help me with that ...

LEMON: Tippecanoe.

PHILLIPS: Tippecanoe River. Two small children died when the family's SUV stalled on the flooded road there. Rescuers managed to save the mother and three siblings using a front end loader, but they couldn't reach the other two in time. Another man drowned when his truck was swept into a flooded creek.

The heavy rains have stopped and the waters starting to go down now, but it could be days before hundreds of people can actually get back home.

Now, i-Reporter Matthew Chamberlain says that a state of emergency was declared in his town of Rensselaer. He had been watching the water rise around his home from all that rain and melting snow, and so far, it hasn't seeped under his doors. Thank goodness.

LEMON: Yes, and for skiers, there's no such thing as too much snow, then again, they don't want to be on a mountain or driving through a mountain pass should all that snow start tumbling. So why create a avalanche?

Here is reporter Bernard Choi at CNN affiliate KING.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one ...

BERNARD CHOI, KING REPORTER (voice-over): It's an explosive way to keep drivers safe. We tagged along as avalanche crews set off blasts along I-90, sending shock waves through Snoqualmie Pass.

CRAIG WILBOUR, AVALANCHE CONTROL SUPERVISOR: What we're trying to do is use explosives to disrupt the snow structure and loosen the whole thing up and make it slide down the hill. CHOI: There is quite a bit of snow up on the mountains. Snowfall in December ranked as the fourth highest since 1949 and with more flakes on the way, DOT (ph) officials decided to relieve some of the pressure on the mountainside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one ...

CHOI: Within seconds, snow cascades on to the freeway, where road crews are ready to plow it out of the way. And as we slowed down the explosion, you can see how it works. Crews set off the charge from a cord on the ground that connects to the 28-pound bomb.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making avalanches happen when we want them to happen rather than when they happen naturally.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Well, Chad Meyers is in the CNN weather center.

Chad, do we expect more snow in the Rockies or -- oh, you are looking like, what is going on over there? Have you got info for me?

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Thousands of tourists were in Kenya when the recent political violence broke out, they are gone now, and they may not be coming back anytime soon. We will have a live report from our Zain Verjee.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hundreds of Kenyans fled their homes today fearing more of the violence that has killed more than 500 people since December 27th. The trouble started after President Mwai Kibaki won a disputed election. Kibaki is urging the refugees to go back home, and he says he is willing to talk to with his political opponent, but insists that the election results are final.

Kenya's violence has costs beyond lives. The tourism board says that more than $45 million has been lost because of cancellations in January alone. Tourism is important to Kenyan's economy.

CNN's Zain Verjee filed this reporter's notebook.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are on the Kenyan coast. This is the port city of Mombasa, it's just on the Indian Ocean. The tourist industry in Kenya is really the backbone of the economy, it's something like $800 million in revenue a year. At this time of year tourism is usually at its peak, the beaches are packed. The hotels should be packed.

But if you look around, this is what you will see, absolutely empty of tourists. There are mainly just Kenyans here looking desperately for business. We talked a while ago to some people out on the boats here that say they haven't take a boat out in three days.

The problem here is that when the tourism industry is affected, it really filters down to everyone, to the people here trying to sell these congas or kikoys that people tie around their waist here on the beach, to people who are trying to get tourists to go on the camel rides, the dancers, the transport industry it's all really affected terribly badly.

The hotel managers here are telling us that their occupancy is now running as something as low as 35 percent. They also told us that after the terror attack here in the coast in 2003, there were just hitting the time right now where the tourist economy was beginning to recover and this was going to be a really great year.

But because of the election violence and the images that have been portrayed around the world of violence in Kenya, the tourists have just packed up and left. One thing that many people here on the beach are telling us -- that it is all about departure and no arrivals.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now our Zain Verjee who grew up there in Kenya, she joins us live from Mombasa.

Zain, what kind of businesses do Kenyans run on the beach to make a living? You told us about some of them.

VERJEE: Well, they basically sell a lot of trinkets out on the beach. They also have these glass boat rides that you go out to the reef when you can look at the fish in this little glass that they have in center of the boat. They also sell beads and clothes and things like that, as well as little curios.

So the bottom line is, they really are not doing well at all, because the tourists have all gone. The key to remember here, Kyra, is that most of the Kenyan economy is driven by the informal sector. The expression that we use here is jua kali, which translates to in the hot sun, so they are out there, but they're not able to sell anything -- Kyra?

PHILLIPS: So, tell us more about why Mombasa is so important to Kenya and the region overall?

VERJEE: Well, Mombasa is a very strategic and important port city basically, there is a lot of food, fuel and U.N. aid shipments that all come through to Mombasa, so it is sitting here in the port. But because of all of the violence in the last few days and the political tensions in country, it's basically been stranded in the port. So, it has not been able to go through different parts of Kenya, as well as countries like Uganda and Congo that really rely on these kind of shipments.

PHILLIPS: Well, I know you've had a chance to talk to a lot of people in Kenya and they are reacting to the New Hampshire primary and Barack Obama because his relations to Kenya. Here is what one man had to say on the streets that you caught up with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are some people who are saying they don't want him, because he's a --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A black man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not even a black -- they are saying they don't want somebody who is closer to Islamic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Tell me what he meant by that. And what do others say to you within that group?

VERJEE: Well, a lot of them were saying that because he was African-American most Americans would not actually end up voting for him as president. Some of the other things they said, too, was that they got up in the wee hours of the morning which is really around 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. to watch the results of the New Hampshire primary.

They said by and large they were disappointed that it was really a step back for Obama in this instance, but they didn't count him completely out of the race. They also said in that particular group that maybe the election there, the polls were rigged.

Kenya itself is facing a big debate and a lot of tension, because Kenyans themselves believe that the latest election was rigged. So that is what everyone had on their minds, Kyra. We had a good laugh, and they're watching the race closely and they are all looking forward to super Tuesday.

PHILLIPS: I could just imagine, and I know Kenyans, even within the violence, figure out a way to party and play music right behind you. I can hear the live music. And what is that dance again that you grew up doing, Zain?

VERJEE: Kyra, it is a traditional Kenyan dance called goma (ph), and I won't do it for you, because I am absolutely awful, but they are playing it in the background for the few tourists and the couple of very tired journalists that are standing here a little embarrassed to talking to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And as everyone here knows, you do actually do that dance very well. Our Zain Verjee who grew up there in Nairobi. Great to see you Zain. Great job.

LEMON: We got some tape on it. We should put that on the air.

PHILLIPS: Yes we will. We're going to bring it back, just you wait.

LEMON: She is pretty good.

PHILLIPS: Yes she is. She can definitely do the dance. LEMON: It is the jetliner of the future, Kyra, all wired up -- or in-flight Internet. Can you imagine? But there is a problem, how to keep the hackers out. Cyber security at 35,000 feet.

A.J. HAMMER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm A.J. Hammer, in New York. Is a TV therapist trying to help Britney Spears or exploit her? I'm going to tell you what her family thinks, next, in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The family of Britney Spears is lashing out at television therapist, Dr. Phil McGraw. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer is here to tell us why the Spears family says Dr. Phil betrayed them.

A.J., when I first saw this, it was billed as Dr. Phil trying to help and then I saw the family spokesperson and she said, no, not at all.

HAMMER: Yes, exactly right, Don. And for starters, I don't think a lot of people would argue that Britney does need some kind of a therapist, but her family is saying that instead of helping the troubled singer, Dr. Phil actually made the situation worse.

Now, a Spears family spokesperson by the name of Lou Taylor appeared on the "Today Show," that's what you saw this morning, and said that McGraw betrayed the family's trust and tried to exploit Britney after last week's emergency trip to the hospital. McGraw visited the singer as she was checking out of the hospital and later released a public statement announcing his intention to have a show that focused on Britney's troubles and her family.

Well that show, as we now know, was called off. Taylor called that statement by Dr. Phil, inappropriate. And for his part, Dr. Phil has not directly responded to Taylor's appearance this morning, but he has been pretty defiant about his behavior.

He had posted a statement on his Web site saying that he was in fact accompanied by a family member when he met with Britney at the hospital, and that his whole goal was to, "guide her to a private intervention hopefully a long way from L.A." He also says that the public criticism has been fueled by the tabloids.

Listen to what he says, "These are the people who jump out from behind a tree and just stand around, panting, waiting for next meltdown so they can jump on, get pictures and sell it. These are the people that are stalking her and they want to criticize me for trying to help her. I mean, come on, get real." You know Don, no matter what you of all this, it's just another bizarre chapter in this truly unbelievable saga of the Spears' family and still a lot of people are saying regardless of Dr. Phil's intentions, sort of a case of bad timing there.

LEMON: Yes, I think they said that it was supposed to be a private moment and they believe he may have exploited that. HAMMER: Well, there's enough of a circus going on. And you know, when a TV doctor of his stature shows up, you know it's only going to feed to that.

LEMON: All right. Let's move on to talk about the writer's strike, because we have been talking about it now for months. How long has it been going on? Like two months -- almost two months?

HAMMER: Yes, several months and no sign of progress today, that is not what I am here to report.

LEMON: Yes and the I saw the People's Choice Awards last night. That went off. How did they pull that one off? It was Queen Latifah hosting.

HAMMER: Yes and they didn't have any writers, so there was a lot of improvisation going on. Normally we know this is a live awards show, it has all the big name celebrities. This year, it had to be pretaped and that left host, Queen Latifah, on the stage all alone. And when to the trophies were handed out to the winners from shows like "Grey's Anatomy," that was all done on tape. They also used a bunch of clips from past shows to fill out the broadcast.

The question now is, could this wind up being what the Oscars might look like if the strike prevents that award show from going on. We're going to have to wait and see there, still undecided at this time. And the strike continues to take a major financial toll, up to one thousands employees at Warner Brothers, which like CNN which is a part of Time Warner family, could be laid off as early as Friday.

Now, coming up tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," has Britney gone British? Why is Britney Spears now speaking in a bizarre British accent? We will have that plus, we will give you the inside story on why Britney's family is now angrily attacking Dr. Phil. All the heat, tonight, on TV's most provocative entertainment news show. You know it -- "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." We'll look forward to you joining us at 11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on "HEADLINE NEWS."

LEMON: At least Madonna has an execution, she lives in London.

HAMMER: Yes, she's been there for a while now. So if she's going to take that on, more power to her.

LEMON: All right, thanks A.J. We'll be watching.

HAMMER: You got it, Don.

PHILLIPS: Well, there's just one word to describe it, big. We will tell you where to find this turbo TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it is every couch potato's dream. How about every man's dream? Kick back, put your feet up, enjoy the view on a wall-sized television. Yes, Don is already getting excited over here. So far, you can only see this hi-def plasma number at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

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