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Fast-Moving Wildfire in Northern California; Midwest Flooding: Fears Ease Downstream; Hawaii Hit Hard by Shipping Charges; Obama Raises Race Issue; The Baby Club?; The Girl With 8 Limbs
Aired June 21, 2008 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now, a wildfire in northern California forces thousands of people to leave their homes.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Also, homes surrounded by water in the Midwest. And we have a staggering figure out this morning that at least $3 billion in damage has been done to crops.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't absorb it. I have taken some increases and absorbed those and not passed them on, but as they continue to come, they have to go to somewhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That somewhere is you. Enjoy your orange juice this morning because some Americans are paying $10 a gallon for OJ.
HOLMES: Wow.
Also, this one will have you shaking your head this morning: an alleged pregnancy pact. Seventeen teenage girls in one Massachusetts high school are pregnant and the school administrators there say this is not a coincidence that they have so many that are pregnant.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, June 21st, here. June 21st everywhere, I should say.
Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes, good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
OK, so let's get you caught up on the news from around the world. And first up, a fast-moving wildfire sends residents scrambling in northern California.
Here's some new video coming into CNN. But firefighters, well, they are making some progress. Full containment is expected a little bit later this morning.
For the latest on what's going on there, we are joined on the phone by Cal Fire battalion chief Paul Van Gerwen.
Chief, thanks so much for spending a little time with us.
Where are you on containment? We understand you're hoping to get all of it contained by later today.
PAUL VAN GERWEN, CAL FIRE BATTALION CHIEF: That's correct. Right now we currently stand at approximately 90 percent contained. We still have some line construction that has to be completed.
NGUYEN: What's been the biggest problem in fighting this fire?
VAN GERWEN: Well, we're experiencing the heat wave. It's been very warm and dry. Very low humidity. That type of fire weather, along with the fuel conditions we're experiencing right now. That's the vegetation in terms of the moisture content that we're experiencing here in California. The rapid rate of spread that we're getting with these warm, dry temperatures, which is causing these fires to not be able to be contained with initial attack.
NGUYEN: I understand a portion of a highway had to be shut down?
VAN GERWEN: That's correct. A section of Highway 1 was closed for several hours. We -- late until about midnight last night.
NGUYEN: Goodness. And when we talk about the evacuations, the people who are being affected by this, how many people had to leave their homes?
VAN GERWEN: Well, it's in the hundreds. Right now we still have approximately 400 still evacuated at this time.
NGUYEN: Any homes destroyed or structures destroyed?
VAN GERWEN: We do have multiple structures that are either damaged or destroyed. We're still going to do a comprehensive evaluation of that so we can get whether they were dwellings or an outbuilding. It will occur today.
NGUYEN: This is a really fast-moving fire. I mean, have you seen something like this recently that has moved so quickly and destroyed so many structures?
VAN GERWEN: Well, yes. Actually, right here in Santa Cruz County, this is the third major fire we've had within the last 30 days.
NGUYEN: Jeez.
VAN GERWEN: And so with these conditions we're experiencing out here with these fuels as dry as they are, it's creating a very rapid rate of spread on these fires.
NGUYEN: Ninety percent contained at this hour. Any indication of what time at least by today you'll have the rest of it fully contained?
VAN GERWEN: Yes. We're going to be shooting for 6:00 p.m. this evening, is when we're hoping to get 100 percent containment.
NGUYEN: Well, best of luck to you. On the phone with us, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Paul Van Gerwen, who's been working very hard to try to get this under control.
Chief, we do appreciate your time today.
In other news, a tanker truck accident led to the closing of a section of Interstate 10 in Louisiana. Police say the driver of the rig lost control and hit a barrier near Lake Pontchartrain earlier this morning. The crash, it caused 4,700 gallons of hydrochloric acid to spill.
Six miles of that highway in both directions is expected to be closed for most of the day. There have been no evacuations and police say the public is not in any danger -- T.J.
HOLMES: Well, Betty, we're talking about relief downstream, but that comes with a consequence of there being misery still upstream. Water that's made its way through levees in the upper Mississippi River has reduced the chances for flooding southward. Even when floodwaters recede, there will be suffering for quite some time to come.
What Iowa farmers face now is going to affect us all. Officials say crop losses in Iowa will top $3 billion. That's $3 billion just in that state alone. So we'll all be paying higher food prices somewhere down the road.
CNN Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf, our buddy here with us on the weekend, he's actually out and about. He's been out about the past several days in the flood zone.
Reynolds, the waters aren't going up. That's certainly good news. So are we out of danger, I guess? Can everybody maybe take a little sigh of relief that things aren't going to get worse?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In some places that's going to be the case. In other place it is really won't be. It's kind of a tale of the have or have-nots.
T.J., right now I'm standing on the street that leads into Old Monroe, Missouri. And if you happen to live in the downtown area, well, you have an opinion that the levee system couldn't be better, couldn't work better for you. However, as things often are in life, when you get to the other side of the tracks, both literally and figuratively, it's a different story altogether.
Here's what I'm talking about. Notice, you can see all the waters, the Mississippi, that have been coming up to this point near the railroad tracks. As far as the eye can see, you see trees, you see houses inundated by the floodwaters. On and on it goes, some places up to 10 feet deep, a few places even higher.
So you do have levee systems back there, but the water has passed those marks. And that's where it's all coming up.
But the benefit is, in other places, like I mentioned, down in Old Monroe, they are in great shape in the downtown area. But this is the expense.
It's going to be a tremendous mess, T.J., even when these floodwaters recede. They are expecting to remain high as we get through the weekend. However, into next week they're going to drop a bit more.
And my goodness, what a mess they're going to be dealing with, not just here, but for hundreds of miles for millions of people up and down the Mississippi River. It is a disastrous situation. There's no question about it.
T.J., back to you.
HOLMES: And Reynolds, you have been out and about in that stuff, walking around in it, wading in it, like we're seeing you do now. How nasty is that water? We've seen, you know, floods, covering these stories in the past. That can be some pretty nasty stuff.
WOLF: Oh, there's no question. I'm very glad I'm wearing these Oompa-Loompa looking things here. This kind of keeps me protected from the water.
But to be honest with you, T.J., you've got all kinds of things that they are really concerned about. You have got obviously some waste from fertilizer, all kinds of farm chemicals. There's some sewage.
What you are seeing here mostly, some tires, some pop bottles, some water bottles here and there, and then a lot of corn. A lot of flotsam. A few sticks here and there. And surprisingly, a lot of animals.
We've seen all kinds of frogs. We've seen all kinds of fish. And then, of course, outside the banks, which are -- moments ago were fields, now they're just creek banks from days ago, we've seen all kinds of deer, wild turkey and whatnot.
One big concern though, T.J., is all this nasty stuff, all these chemicals, are going to be sweeping down the river and into the Gulf of Mexico. And then think about what it's going to do to the ecosystem in the Gulf. Certainly not a good situation, but this big river is a conveyer belt. So all of what's here is going to be going much farther to the south.
HOLMES: My goodness. So many issues to deal with. Not just property losses and what we've been hearing about, but like you say, we've got some issues to deal with with the environment.
Reynolds, we appreciate you. And get out of that nasty stuff, all right? Thank you so much. We'll be checking in with you again later.
All right.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Ah, Hawaii -- the sand, the surf, the sun. And how about those shipping charges? Yes.
CNN's Chris Lawrence looks at why people in paradise may be feeling the pinch of high gas prices a lot more than you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice-over): The end result of expensive fuel can be found in Hawaii, where it's caused orange juice to sell for $10 a gallon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a lot more than what we're used to.
LAWRENCE: But the change starts on California farms. When growers pay more for petroleum-based fertilizer, they pass it on to the shipper. And when the trucks that haul those crops to the warehouse pay more for fuel, the shipper gets hit again.
TIM KENNEDY, KENNEDY PRODUCE: There's a surcharge from just about everyone.
LAWRENCE: Tim Kennedy runs a shipping business his dad started in the 1950s. He knows that every time he raises prices in Los Angeles, it's passed on to an island family already paying a fortune.
KENNEDY: But that has to be how it works. I can't absorb it. I've taken some increases and absorbed those and not passed them on. But as they continue to come, they have to go to somewhere.
LAWRENCE: These California companies are a lifeline to Hawaii, which has less than a week's supply of food.
KENNEDY: Without me, it's difficult to feed the island.
LAWRENCE: Hawaii imports about 80 percent of its food from the mainland, either by planes or cargo ships that use a lot of expensive fuel. And those ocean and air freight charges are passed on. We followed Kennedy's containers to his wholesaler in Honolulu. Allan Woo turns around and sells that food to schools and restaurants in Hawaii.
ALLEN WOO, MANSON PRODUCTS: We're probably less profitable than we were three years ago.
LAWRENCE: Is that all because of this fuel surcharge that you're paying right now?
WOO: Yes, it is. The surcharge a few years ago was $432. Next month it'll be $1,600.
LAWRENCE: Woo says the only way to recoup that is to tack on a surcharge of his own.
WOO: Ultimately it is passed on to the consumer.
LAWRENCE (on camera): Isn't it always? Some shipping companies have been replacing those diesel trucks with hybrids. Others are buying newer, more fuel-efficient airplanes. But when it comes to moving food over 2,500 miles of open ocean, there's only so many ways to cut costs.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Honolulu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Rising food costs, higher energy costs, all of it draining your wallet faster than ever. It is issue #1 right here on CNN. And you can catch a full hour of the economic news that hits home at noon Eastern, weekdays on CNN.
HOLMES: Good job, Chris. Pitching a story that gets you to Hawaii.
NGUYEN: To Hawaii. Can we just get one of those assignments at some point in our career?
HOLMES: Very nice. Apparently, we're not pitching the right stories.
NGUYEN: Apparently not.
HOLMES: All right. We're going to turn to the busy week ahead in presidential politics.
For Republican John McCain, it's about raising big bucks. For Barack Obama, it's teaming up with a formal rival in the name of party unity. You may have heard of her, Hillary Clinton, that rival. Well, Obama also raising the race issue in comments at a fund-raiser last night. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We know what kind of campaign they're going to run. They're going to try to make you afraid. They're going try to make you afraid of me.
They're going say, "You know what? He's young and inexperienced and he's got a funny name. Did I mention he's black?"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser with us now from Washington.
Those comments certainly getting a lot of traction right now because a lot saying Barack Obama has always said he wants to stay above this, let others talk about race if they want to. He's not going to talk about it, and here he is talking about it.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, and this is the second time in a week. He made similar comments about a week ago at another fund-raiser. That one in Chicago, saying that some Republicans could try to portray him and his wife Michelle as scary. As you mentioned, T.J., when he jumped into the race a year and a half ago, he said he didn't want his campaign to be about race. But as we all know, race came up a lot in the primaries.
But he never charged that his opponents were being racist against him. Maybe that's because back then it was Democrat versus Democrat. Now the general election is upon us, and it seems the gloves are coming off on both sides.
Also coming off and coming up, actually, is kind of a bit of unity between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBAMA: This is going to be a tough general election.
STEINHAUSER (voice over): Barack Obama talking about the battle ahead with John McCain.
OBAMA: I've got a lot of work to do everywhere.
STEINHAUSER: Part of that work involves teaming up next week with his rival from the primaries, Hillary Clinton. The two senators get together for a fund-raiser Thursday here in Washington and they'll hit the road together Friday.
This is the first time the two will team up on the campaign trail. Clinton gave up her bid for the White House two weeks ago.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: I will work my heart out to make sure that Senator Obama is our next president.
STEINHAUSER: She's on board. But not all of her supporters are, and next week's teaming up could help unite a party that's still healing from those bitter primary battles.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we have a great challenge in this campaign.
STEINHAUSER: And for John McCain, one of those challenges is to raise some big bucks. He trails Obama in the fight for campaign cash. Next week he's holding fund-raisers from California to Ohio. The senator from Arizona realizes the tough work ahead.
MCCAIN: I know I have to out-campaign my opponent in every respect. And so I do not underestimate. I consider myself an underdog.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEINHAUSER: And our newest CNN Poll of Polls shows that he's the underdog. Take a look at these numbers -- Obama, 46 percent; McCain, 40 percent.
Our Poll of Polls is kind of a average of the latest national surveys. Obama's lead up two points here. But remember, T.J., these polls, they're a snapshot of what's going on right now. And right now is a long, long road way away from November 4th.
HOLMES: Yes. A lot is going to happen between now and then. And a lot more polls to be taken.
But McCain, he was always seen as having kind of a disadvantage, at least in the primary season, even, and a hard time raising money. Now he's getting into this general election campaign and he is the nominee now, or presumptive nominee of his party. So all those resources and money coming his way. But has he shown that maybe he will be able to keep up with money-making or money-raising machine that is Barack Obama?
STEINHAUSER: Maybe, because we just got the numbers from May. And in May, Barack Obama raised about $22 million. That seems like a lot to you and me, but it was the lowest amount he's raised in a long time.
John McCain raised just not far back $21 million. And when it comes to the most important number, cash on hand, Barack Obama's campaign has $43 million to spend right now. John McCain, $32 million. Not that far apart.
HOLMES: Not that far apart, but you and I, if you took a poll of our cash on hand, it would be far, far less.
Paul Steinhauser, thanks, sir. Always good to see you.
STEINHAUSER: Thanks.
NGUYEN: Well, first there's one, then another. and then teen after teen getting pregnant in a Massachusetts high school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a tremendous amount of peer pressure, negative peer pressure for as many girls as possible to join in this pact.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Some claim the girls made a pact to get pregnant. What?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. So what in the world were they thinking?
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: A group of teenage girls in Gloucester, Massachusetts, allegedly had a secret agreement to all get pregnant.
HOLMES: How many? We are talking about 17 girls.
Our Randi Kaye has the report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: High School is hard enough, so why would a group of girls from Gloucester, Massachusetts, a fishing village outside Boston, choose to get pregnant? In all, 17 girls are having babies; some as young as 15. Not one of them is married.
SUPT. CHRISTOPHER FARMER, GLOUCESTER SCHOOL DISTRICT: It's profoundly disturbing.
KAYE: High School administrators are reeling after learning there may have been some sort of pregnancy pact. Even more shocking, the superintendent believes at least one girl had sex with a 24-year- old homeless man just to be part of the group.
The pact is so secretive, we couldn't even find out the girl's names. This man told us the girls tried to convince his stepdaughter to get pregnant too.
TED SORENSON, STEPFATHER OF GLOUCESTER TEEN: There was a tremendous amount of peer pressure, negative peer pressure for as many girls as possible to join in this pact. And luckily my stepdaughter was smart enough or scared enough to say no.
KAYE: School officials first began to take notice last October when so many girls started showing up at the nurse's office to find out if they were pregnant. The nurse reportedly gave as many as 150 pregnancy tests.
The superintendent says the girls went back over and over, until they got the results they wanted.
FARMER: There's some talk of high fives and that kind of thing.
KAYE: Amanda Ireland, who just graduated from Gloucester High, had a baby her freshman year. She knows one of girls in the alleged pregnancy pact.
AMANDA IRELAND: I asked her if she was keeping the baby and she said yes.
KAYE: The superintendent says a handful of the girls have already delivered. Ireland can't understand why anyone would choose to get pregnant so young.
IRELAND: It's definitely not all peaches and cream.
KAYE: The superintendent says the men who fathered the children are not students. They're older, in their 20s. If the girls agree to name them, he says, they could face statutory rape charges.
And there's more. The school's doctor has resigned after coming under fire for handing out contraceptives. It's against district policy. DR. BRIAN ORR, CLINIC'S MEDICAL DIRECTOR: We were on our way to try to do things that any parent, any adult, any community would want, decreasing the initiation of having sex and decreasing the number of sexual partners.
KAYE: Sex education is only taught freshman year.
Why isn't it offered beyond that?
FARMER: We are very poorly funded by the state of Massachusetts.
KAYE: Plus, with the economy so weak here and parents scrambling to make money, this mother of five says children may not be getting enough attention at home.
SHEILA HORGAN, GLOUCESTER RESIDENT: I think parents are so busy trying to make money to survive in this economy that they're not focused on their children.
KAYE: Others blame Hollywood movies like "Juno" that glamorize teen pregnancy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "JUNO")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're pregnant?
ELLEN PAGE, ACTRESS: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And if it is any consolation, I have heartburn that is radiating in my kneecaps. And...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't even know you were sexually active.
(END VIDEO CLIP, "JUNO")
HORGAN: It ruins their whole lives. It affects these children. Who's going to take care of these children? You know? Who is going to be responsible for these children the rest of their lives?
KAYE: It's a question many here wish the girls in the pregnancy pact had asked themselves nine months ago.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That is just shocking. I know a lot of people are asking a whole host of questions today, especially seeing that story. And I know that you may want to weigh in on this story or anything else that you have seen this morning.
So here's what you can do. You can send us an e-mail at weekend@cnn.com.
HOLMES: And there's another way for you to be a part of CNN, and that is through our iReports. Our Josh Levs has been going through those, and he's here to show us some more this morning.
Good morning to you.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you -- yes, good morning to you guys. You know, people are weighing in on that. They're also weighing in on another really big controversial idea, the offshore oil drilling.
Is it a great idea or is it the wrong choice? Our iReporters are going to battle it out right here, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. So where do you stand on offshore oil drilling? A good idea, not such a good idea? You can put your opinion on video and actually upload it to ireports.com.
HOLMES: And we have received already a few responses, some of them quite interesting.
Our Josh Levs here to share some of those that have been standing out to you, at least.
Hello again.
LEVS: Yes. Hi to you guys.
And it turned into a battle over this online with people expressing some really strong opinions.
We're going to close in on this one to start off with. This one comes to us from Todd Olschmidt (ph) who sent us this picture.
I'm going to scroll down. The screen's going to shake a little bit, but let's take a look at what his position is.
He says here, "What we need to do to help ourselves out is let big oil do what they do best -- find more oil, drill more oil and refine more oil."
But now let's go over to one more over here. I want to show you Brenda Clark (ph), who has a very different opinion. She sends us this picture of some kids celebrating in front of a globe of the world.
And she says, "Putting bandages on problems only covers them up, leaving larger, more pressing burdens for the next generation. That does not sound like the American dream."
Now, as you guys mentioned, we also have videos. Let's take a look at two iReport videos we received today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERICK HUCHZERMEYER, AUSTIN, TEXAS: All that oil is yours. It's your states. It sits there, it's offshore of your coastline.
I don't know why the federal government is sticking their nose in it. So let's get out there, let's shoot (ph) some seismic (ph). Let's see what you get. And then we can extract that oil cleanly. It will bring so much work for you, you'll never believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORDAN SARVER, ATLANTA: We have to move away from oil, period. And we need to find more earth-friendly ways of, you know, powering our automobiles. What happened to the electric car?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: All right. So we're hearing those kinds of things. Lots of videos and some written iReports and photos coming in.
To send us your opinion, just go to ireport.com.
Before I let you go, guys, I want to point to this resource at CNN.com to help people understand the battle over offshore drilling.
This is a map of the United States. It's at CNN.com right now. And this section here and this section over here shows where people would be allowed to go if they lift the ban on federal offshore oil drilling.
So this is where it would be. Those entire areas. And then you can read more at CNN.com about the battle over how much oil would be available.
So there you go. Keep it coming, ireports.com.
Betty, T.J., over to you.
NGUYEN: All right. Thanks, Josh.
LEVS: Thanks.
HOLMES: Up next, we're going to be telling you about a life- changing surgery.
NGUYEN: Now, this little girl who once had eight limbs has a chance at a normal life. We have her story and an interview with her doctor coming right up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, here's a story that you probably will remember, a baby born with eight limbs.
HOLMES: Yes. Indian villagers believe her to be a goddess. So now, after pioneering surgery, she has a chance to be a normal little girl.
We get more now from Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Like the goddess she was named for, Lakshmi Tatma had eight limbs when she was born in India's Bihar region back in 2005. In fact, villagers there believed she was the goddess reincarnated.
Word spread to India's renowned surgeon, Dr. Sharan Patil.
DR. SHARAN PATIL, ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON: In spite of the beliefs, as a medical man, I certainly thought she needs help.
Lakshmi.
GUPTA: Dr. Patil examined Lakshmi and recommended surgery to remove her extra limbs, even though it was a high-risk operation.
PATIL: Amazing. The first time I've seen anything like this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There we go.
GUPTA: Tests revealed the heart, liver and lungs, just one working kidney. Another would be transplanted from the parasite.
PATIL: One of them located here. Other functioning kidneys located here.
GUPTA: The twins were also fused at the spine. They'd need to rebuild her pelvis.
An agonizing moment as Lakshmi goes into surgery. A team of 30 doctors had prepped for a month. At 16 hours in, a critical milestone.
PATIL: The parasite is off.
GUPTA: After 27 hours, Lakshmi, with two arms and two legs, is transformed.
DR. THIMAPPA HEDGE, SR. NEUROSURGEON: The hero in this whole story is Lakshmi.
GUPTA: Today, Lakshmi recuperates at a facility in Rajasthan and still needs work on her spinal cord and clubbed feet. But doctors say her progress is remarkable.
PATIL: I see her growing up as a normal girl.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NGUYEN: Well, let's talk now with one of the doctors who made this life-changing surgery possible, the chief surgeon himself, Dr. Sharan Patil.
Thanks for joining us today.
PATIL: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Before we get to the difficulties of the surgery, I want to ask you this: How difficult a decision was it for this family? Because many people in the village where they live thought of Lakshmi as the reincarnate of a goddess with eight limbs.
PATIL: I guess it was a very difficult decision for them, especially considering the amount of risk which was involved in the surgical procedure. But they had had difficulties with the child, and while two years had passed by with great difficulty, they were wanting to have medical intervention. At the same time, it was a difficult decision.
I sure appreciate them for taking it.
NGUYEN: Would she have survived without the surgery? Probably not, right?
PATIL: Probably not. In her circumstances in the village, with an infected sore on her back, she was going down every day.
NGUYEN: OK. And so due to religious concerns, how hesitant were you? How hesitant was the family? I mean, what kind of discussions did you have?
PATIL: Yes. As you'll see in the "National Geographic" documentary, I was very keen to visit the village and know the villagers and the family, and the background and circumstances before we took the decision to go ahead with the surgery. It was important how they would take it. And I found that they were pretty open for medical intervention, and I think everything worked according to the plan, and they were quite enthusiastic about the whole thing.
NGUYEN: Especially given the fact she may not have survived had the surgery not been performed.
PATIL: Correct.
NGUYEN: OK. So let's get to this really remarkable surgery, which you headed up this team. It was a number of doctors who worked together.
What was the most challenging part of that? Was it the fact that the spines were intertwined?
PATIL: Yes, there were many difficulties. One of the main things was to identify structures which belong to Lakshmi and which belong to the parasite. It was very important for us not to disturb the organs which were to service her for the rest of her life. So it was very critical. We were slow and deliberate for every step, and our planning, fortunately, was immaculate (ph), and things went according to the plan. I should say that reconstructing the pelvis was one of the most difficult things, yes.
NGUYEN: My goodness. And how is she going to live out her life? Does she have more surgeries that are going to need to occur? Is she going to grow up as a normal little girl, or is she always going to have some health problems because of this?
PATIL: At the moment she's on no medication. She's doing extremely well. All her systems are functioning well, all her organs are intact.
She needs a couple things doing. One of them is club feet, which where the feet are turned in, which need to be thought about. And at the same time, we need to do the (INAUDIBLE) in the spine.
Both of them relatively minor surgeries and could be done at convenience. And I'm optimistic that she will grow up as a normal child. She's making good strides.
NGUYEN: Are you just amazed by this? I mean, really, what you've been able to do, not only to save this little girl, but to really transform her.
PATIL: It's been an amazing journey for the entire team. We're very glad we were able to touch the life of Lakshmi, especially the one who would have perished without the medical help. And she did not have any resources to seek medical help. The level of skills and infrastructure which was required for this girl was beyond her reach. And it's very heartwarming for us to be able to do this.
NGUYEN: But you had to be incredibly nervous taking this on, especially with so much publicity around it, too.
PATIL: Yes, it was. It was -- it was nerve-racking at times. But we have been lucky to go through the whole thing smoothly.
NGUYEN: And once she returned home, was there any concern about how she may be received now that this surgery has been performed?
PATIL: Yes. There was some concern. But fortunately, when the story ends well, everybody is happy, and the villagers have taken well to the little child, I understand.
And so far, everything is working well. And there will not be any backlash of any kind.
NGUYEN: But very quickly, she didn't go home to the same exact village, correct? Didn't they move to a different village?
PATIL: That's correct. She's been back and forth from her village to a rehabilitation place. So she has visited her village, though, yes.
NGUYEN: OK. But that's not because of the way that the people in that village were going to receive her?
PATIL: Not really. Still, the villagers and the family, I'm sure, think she's special, and so do we. I think that she's a very charming, special girl, yes.
NGUYEN: Boy, I think without a doubt she is indeed a special and very lucky little girl to have survived this.
Thank you so much, Doctor, for speaking with us today.
PATIL: Thank you. And I bring greetings from India to all Americans.
NGUYEN: Thank you so much.
PATIL: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, "The Girl With 8 Limbs," that's what it's called. And it premieres tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. Eastern on the National Geographic Channel in the U.S. and Canada.
HOLMES: Well, allegations of dirty tricks. One famous Russian takes aim at his American counterparts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They took our tricks. They simply took our property. I came up with the idea of a cat driving a car. They took that.
We came up with the car's design, the art work. If you want to create something, do your own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Did he say a cat driving a car?
There's some international intrigue in the small cat arena, if you even knew that there was a small cat arena, and the claws are coming out.
NGUYEN: Also ahead, the new ball and chain. OK, it's just a BlackBerry...
HOLMES: OK.
NGUYEN: ... but for some it feels like it. So, should you get paid to read that BlackBerry after hours?
HOLMES: Your answer, Betty?
NGUYEN: Oh, yes. It would be nice, wouldn't it? We're talking about it right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HOLMES: Well, you know this expression, "It's as difficult as hurting cats." Well, one man has actually perfected that trick, but now he says his secret to hurting cats has been stolen. And that's setting up an international cat fight.
CNN's Matthew Chance with this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the weird world of circus acts, this Russian cat theater is a legend. The feline acrobats have astonished young audiences in Moscow for decades with onstage antics that have made their trainer a household name.
YURI KUKLACHEV, CAT TRAINER (through translator): Of all of the secrets of working with cats, the main one is to love the cat, to give it your tenderness. And when the cat feels that, it will respond mutually.
CHANCE: But loving cats isn't all it takes. Yuri and his son Dmitri (ph) use highly successful and secret training techniques, making their hugely popular and long-running stage act possible.
(on camera): The thing is, getting cats to perform like this is notoriously difficult, and the trainers at this theater have spent decades perfecting the art. But now they say their techniques, their image and their entire act is being stolen by rival cat trainers in the United States.
(voice over): These are the alleged copycats, the New York based Moscow Cats Theatre. The owners say their act is an original performance. Nothing to do with its Russian counterpart.
YANIS GELFMAN, GENERAL MANAGER, U.S. CATS THEATRE: Absolutely not, because, really, with cats there is a certain amount of tricks you could do. And they are all the same. I could show you a hundred different cat trainers with absolutely no connection to Kuklachev, who do the same tricks as he claims to own.
CHANCE: But the appearance of Kuklachev's image on the U.S. competitors' posters had him bristling with anger and seeking an injunction.
KUKLACHEV (through translator): They took our tricks. They simply took our property.
I came up with the idea of a cat driving a car. They took that. We came up with the car's design, the art work. If you want to create something, do your own.
CHANCE: Now the legal claws are out, and this cat fight is headed to the U.S. courts.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHANCE: You know, T.J., I want to emphasize just how famous this Yuri Kuklachev is here in Russia. He's really an icon of children's entertainment. And the fact that there's a perception that his lifelong work is now being copied over there in the U.S. has really become a sort of issue of national pride. People are genuinely angry.
HOLMES: OK. Well, I'm glad you put it some perspective, because many people would see this and think, you know, it's cats performing on stage, and, you know, you kind of laugh and smile about it, but it's serious stuff there in Moscow.
Matthew Chance, interesting story. Appreciate you bringing that to us this morning.
NGUYEN: The serious business of herding cats, because you do it on a daily basis. You're trying to herd your own cats.
HOLMES: I don't herd cats. I only have two.
NGUYEN: You have two cats.
HOLMES: I do have two cats.
NGUYEN: What are their names, Elvis and Priscilla.
HOLMES: There they are.
(LAUGHTER)
NGUYEN: You actually got them to pose for the camera today.
HOLMES: See, that's the extent of their tricks. If I can get them to keep the food in the bowl, then that's a wonderful day.
NGUYEN: And find your own water. They're good.
HOLMES: And I know you know they're sweet cats. You've had to feed them before when I'm out of town.
NGUYEN: I have.
HOLMES: So...
NGUYEN: I haven't seen any tricks. So I guess they won't be going on the road anytime soon, huh?
HOLMES: They won't be. I can't get them out of the bed, much less out of the house.
NGUYEN: Well, speaking of something that does have a few tricks, this BlackBerry, right?
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: We all -- well, most of us use it. Some of us can't keep our hands off it. Wired up workers who say they just can't escape their jobs.
HOLMES: So, you know what? If you're working all the time, shouldn't you be getting paid all that time you're away from the office?
NGUYEN: Absolutely.
HOLMES: On the company's dime. Well, there's a fight now over after-hours pay. And Betty and I are joining that lawsuit.
NGUYEN: Right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, thanks for these little things.
Do you ever get the feeling that when you're not at work you're still working because you're on one of these BlackBerrys?
HOLMES: Yes. Yes.
NGUYEN: All the time.
HOLMES: All the time.
Actually, but there is now -- we might have some recourse here. We might have an option, because there is a legal fight that's going on right now over whether workers should be getting paid extra.
NGUYEN: Paid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing is like a ball and chain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I definitely think that we should be compensated.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think people should be compensated for what they're being asked to do outside of work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, writers and producers at ABC News, they demanded payment for after-hours work usage. And do you know what? They reached kind of a settlement with their management.
NGUYEN: Really? Was it per hour on the BlackBerry? Per word?
HOLMES: You know, we need to reach out to our colleagues at ABC News.
NGUYEN: Let me send them a message right now on my BlackBerry, in fact.
HOLMES: By all means. But we all have -- you know, maybe we do have an argument here.
NGUYEN: I think we do.
So, bosses, are you listening?
HOLMES: Hope you're listening.
NGUYEN: We'll send you an e-mail.
HOLMES: But yes, attorneys are now warning that other companies need to be prepared for some possible legal action, because now ABC News has reached -- and those workers. And maybe...
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: Well, I think a lot of people do have some valid complaints, because when you're away from work, you're always tied to work. And if you do have to do some, you know, significant work on the BlackBerry, or phone call or whatnot, because of the message, hey, technically you're still working.
HOLMES: You're still working. And they expect to hear back from you even if it's your day off.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes, absolutely.
HOLMES: Sorry.
NGUYEN: Hey, you get an e-mail from the boss and you're not responding? Try that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. National pastime, we all know, baseball.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: We've got the stories and the stars remembered really from generation to generation.
NGUYEN: Passed down from father to son, usually. But there's one little kid who could teach his dad a thing or two.
CNN Sports' Larry Smith is here with us this morning.
All right, Larry. Break it down.
LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, this is a really good story. His dad says, you know, I don't really follow baseball, so I don't even know how this thing got started.
NGUYEN: Yikes.
SMITH: Every kid has a passion, really, be it dolls or video games or even baseball, but few become an expert, if you will, in less than a year. Look at this. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH (voice over): Eddie Richardson is like any other 8-year- old boy. He's a straight A student who loves to tease his big sister and likes to surf the net. But when it comes to baseball, Eddie is in a league of his own.
ED RICHARDSON, EDDIE'S FATHER: Something about last year he started to improve on the field. He's just a voracious reader, and he just started to want to read everything about baseball. He's on the Internet, he's bringing books home from the library. And he just fell in love with it.
SMITH: He's become a pint-size baseball savant. You see, Eddie can name every single player in Major League Baseball.
EDDIE RICHARDSON, 8 YEARS OLD: Each morning I get the newspaper and look at the box scores, and some nights I watch baseball games.
ED RICHARDSON: The wild moment was probably end of July or so. And I signed him up for a three-day golf camp. And by the last day, I walked into the clubhouse, and it's Eddie and four old guys, and they're playing, who can stump Eddie? And he's beating them.
And then the golf pro says, "Look, I'm a big fan. And your son knows way more than I do."
SMITH: This I had to see for myself.
(on camera): Name a starting pitcher from the Seattle Mariners.
EDDIE RICHARDSON: Jarrod Washburn.
SMITH: Right fielder for the Royals.
EDDIE RICHARDSON: Jose Guillen.
SMITH: Starting catcher for the Baltimore Orioles.
EDDIE RICHARDSON: Ramon Hernandez.
SMITH: Shortstop for the Dodgers?
EDDIE RICHARDSON: Raphael Furcal.
SMITH: Starting catcher for the Mariners?
EDDIE RICHARDSON: Kenji Johjima.
SMITH: Did you study before I walked up here? Did you do a little studying right before I walked in the door? No?
(voice over): Eddie not only doesn't miss, he doesn't even hesitate. Until this one -- who was the second baseman for the Houston Astros?
(on camera): Oh, I don't believe it! You're human. You're human.
EDDIE RICHARDSON: Oh, wait. Kazuo Matsui.
SMITH: I take that back.
(LAUGHTER)
ED RICHARDSON: I thought I was an accomplished man, but when your 8-year-old son is blowing you away, you know, intellectually, that's a little bit of an ego-downer.
I typically send him to the neighbors. I send him to Mr. Gus, who's a big Red Sox fan. And I say, "Gus is retired and he can take all day and talk baseball with Eddie."
GUS FRACHINI, NEIGHBOR: He knows far more about baseball than I do. And I've been keeping up with baseball since I was about his age. But he's just -- we do love to talk baseball.
SMITH (voice over): Eddie's next goal is to learn all of the stadium names and the names of those enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. And nobody is betting against him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: By the way, Eddie says he spends about 20 minutes a day on MajorLeagueBaseball.com. That's how he figured that out. He's also a very good baseball player. His dad says they're very proud that he just made the all-star team. So...
NGUYEN: Really?
SMITH: Yes. Yes.
NGUYEN: That is amazing.
HOLMES: That is amazing.
SMITH: Yes. He's pretty -- I told him, I said, "You know, I did this without the Internet 30 years ago when I was a kid." So I said, "If baseball doesn't work out, there's always sports journalism." Because we need idiot savants who just...
NGUYEN: Who can remember the names and positions.
SMITH: ... NCAA champion from 1965 or something, exactly.
NGUYEN: Exactly. Oh, man.
Hey, internship. It looks like it might happen?
SMITH: His dad says he's going to drop him off sometime. I'm waiting for the call.
HOLMES: Just drop him off.
SMITH: Yes.
HOLMES: But that is outstanding. We've been hearing about this kid. Glad we could finally see the story.
SMITH: Yes.
HOLMES: Good stuff.
NGUYEN: That is fantastic.
HOLMES: All right. Thank you so much.
SMITH: OK. Good seeing you.
NGUYEN: Thank you.
HOLMES: Our next hour here starts right now.
