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Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Withdraws Due to Threat of Deaths; Actress-Advocate Jane Fonda Comments on Massachusetts Teen Pregnancy Pact; Dr. Maya Angelou Talks Politics

Aired June 22, 2008 - 17:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, ANCHOR: Next in the NEWSROOM: A powerful typhoon slams into the Philippines. Trapped in the storm, a ferry carrying hundreds of passengers there, most are now missing at sea.
Plus: Oil news out of Saudi Arabia. Could it eventually save you some money at the gas pump?

And: Zimbabwe election crisis deepens. The candidate pulls out of the runoff. A live report from South Africa.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, day light looms in the Philippines where the military plans to resume its dangerous efforts to find victims from that capsized ferry as fearful families await new word, the country's Red Cross has asked for help from the U.S. Navy. The ship was carrying more than 740 people when it flipped during a deadly typhoon near Sibuyan Island.

With us now by phone from Manila, Philippine Senator Richard Gordon, head of the country's Red Cross.

Senator Gordon, give me an idea of the challenges that the rescuers are up against?

SEN. RICHARD GORDON, CHAIRMAN, PHILIPPINE RED CROSS (through phone): Well, you're dealing with high seas and a lot of rain at the moment, and we are trying to found out what are - most of the passengers have been struck away to other islands by sea and whether how many more people are still inside the bowels of the vessel which is -- stern is still showing.

So, we're hoping that there is an air pocket there just, in case, we can find out whether there is -- so that we can find out whether there are some people alive. But hope springs eternal. We already found 28 people who survived it. Unfortunately, two didn't make it. One died while they were floating and one got missing, but 28 people were picked up by fishermen off the coast of Quezon about 95 miles northeast of where the accident occurred.

WHITFIELD: While 28 survivors is very hopeful, it's still very grim when we're talking about up to 740 people on that ferry. You mentioned that you can still see the stern but for the most part this ferry has sunk.

GORDON: That's right. It's actually on one nautical mile away from the seashore.

We are thinking; we are meeting right now. We'd just have a meeting with the president of the Philippines, even though she travels to the United States. The cabinet is here and most of our military officials are here. And we're discussing ways and means of trying to get more, you know, survivors out of this incident. At the same time, we're also picking up survivors of small fishing vessels that have sunk that have not even been reported.

WHITFIELD: How interesting. And while you have made mention of asking the U.S. Navy for assistance, those U.S. naval vessels that happened to be in the region, if the answer is yes from the U.S. Navy, how long might it take before anyone can actually get to this area where this vessel is?

GORDON: Well, you know, the U.S. Navy has Orion planes hovering in these areas all the time and they can always check out whether there are survivors floating in the ocean or, you know, and relay it our coast guard and to our Philippine Navy vessels on the ground. At the same time, you know, they have U.S. Navy vessels in the area with helicopter capability, they would also be able to make sweeps and even picked survivors on the water.

And so, it's so crucial that any other, you know, friendly nations, if they have available equipment be table to assist us in this effort.

WHITFIELD: All right. Philippine senator, Richard Gordon, head of the country's Red Cross, as well. Thanks so much and all the best in your continued effort to try to rescue any potential survivors.

And, of course, we're going to continue to follow this tragedy in the making there in involving this ferry that has sunk there in the Philippines next hour.

Meantime, the Pre-OPEC (ph) oil summit wrapped up this afternoon in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. And listen to this -- the Saudi government agrees that you are paying too much at the pump. Gas prices didn't really move either way overnight, but the national average is just under $4.10 per gallon but possibly could drop after Saudi Arabia's king and oil minister announced that their kingdom will bring more production to market to combat the record high prices. Friday's closed around $135 a barrel for oil.

The bottom line, the Saudis plan to pump 9.7 million barrels of oil per day soon. That's 700,000 more than the current output. And by the end of next year, they want to have the capacity to pump 12.5 million barrels a day.

So, how does all of this talk in Saudi Arabia impact the price that we pay at the pump here in the United States?

CNN's international correspondent, Wilf Dinnick spoke with me a short time ago from Jeddah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) WILF DINNICK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All the parties, all the major players in the oil industry, gather here today to figure out mid to long-term solutions, to try to figure what they can do together to try to bring down the price of oil and they vary widely and divergent ideas on just how to do it. Some are saying more investment in alternative energies like solar power and wind. Others are saying that existing oil fields and refineries that haven't really had investments in a long time, they need more money. So, the real belief here though, is the immediate effect of that good news from Saudi Arabia that all of that new oil will get onto the marketplace and eventually ease demand -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, might it mean that we may see a reduction of some of the gas prices as a result but maybe not in the short-term but long-term?

DINNICK: That's exactly right. That's what they're saying here. There's going to be a follow up meeting in London in October to see what sort of progress has been made.

They've come to a working document, what they're calling a joint paper here. The players are agreeing on all the list of things they can do. But just whether they can agree on a list of priorities, how soon they can get those things done, and whether they can come together to actually make that - to put those into action is really unclear at this point.

But the Saudi officials here are saying the fact that everyone is speaking, everyone is trying to get to the bottom of this, and everyone is trying to move forward, it doesn't a message to the market place that they are interested in bringing the price of oil down. So, well, it may not happen right way, they really believe mid to long- term, they're going to get this under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Wilf Dinnick there in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Well, as you might expect, the Saudi pledged to pump more crude is being welcomed in part in Washington.

Let's go to CNN's Kathleen Koch for more on the story.

There is cautious optimism, why cautious?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, the U.S. has been pushing Saudi Arabia for some time to increase production and there are a lot of outstanding questions right now. Will they actually follow through with the pledge? Will it make a difference? And what can U.S. lawmakers do in the meantime to help drivers?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH (voice-over): The White House expressed cautious optimism at the news, with spokesman saying, quote, "Any increase in production in today's oil market is welcome." The Saudis' promise to pump more crude also drew praise from surrogates for the two presidential contenders who then went partisan.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON, (D) NEW MEXICO: It's going to help a little bit, maybe reduce prices just a little. The point is that we have got to have a bipartisan comprehensive strategy. And this administration, and, it seems, Senator McCain, they want to do is drill, drill, drill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's important to have greater global supply, but it would be better if United States control its energy destiny. That's what John McCain wants to do.

KOCH: With gas prices soaring, both parties agree, something must be done just not what. On Capitol Hill, the House, this week, plans to begin debating four new Democratic energy proposals. Grants to cut fares for mass transit, a crackdown on fuel price gauging, another aims to curb speculation in the energy futures market which many, including the Saudis believe is driving up the price of oil.

REP. ED MARKEY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: There is absolutely no way that this market doubled in value over 12 months unless manipulation and speculation was a part of it. And so, we need to get at the heart of it, and to shut that down before it shuts down the American economy.

KOCH: Finally, one measure would force oil companies to explore for oil on federal land they're leasing or loose those rights. But oil companies insist there is a reason they're not drilling.

RED CAVANEY, AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE: There's no net-plus (ph) chart that says drill right here for 50 million barrels. Most of that land doesn't have oil and gas.

KOCH: White House and Republican energy plans push for clean coal technologies, ending the moratorium on oil shale, as well as more oil refineries and offshore drilling.

SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, (R) TEXAS: Drilling off shore on a state by state option is something that I think we could do very environmentally safely. And yet, anything that says production is killed by the Democrats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: Lawmakers of both parties admit that most proposals though wouldn't do much anytime soon to cut prices at the pump. So, many of them are urging conservation, in other words, dropping demand and that, Fredricka, sadly is pretty much the only thing that consumers can control.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kathleen Koch from Washington, thanks so much.

KOCH: You bet. WHITFIELD: Meantime, to the growing concern of too much water. Misery on the Mississippi right now and it could get worse for many tomorrow. Jacqui Jeras has the forecast, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Now to the flooding misery in the Midwest. Water levels are still high. The Mississippi River is still rising at some point and the river is likely to crest in those areas today or tomorrow. Several towns in Missouri and Illinois remain on flood watch. And officials expect levees to hold. The Weather Service says rivers should start to recede this week. That is very hopeful.

Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center. And let's hope that does, indeed, happen. But, of course, we know that even when the waters recede, the trouble is still there in the big way.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And it has taken so long for some of these areas for the water to actually get back within its banks. For example, Des Moines, Iowa, the river crested at a record level a week and two days ago. It's still this much above flood stage. Finally, it will go below, we think, by tomorrow or maybe Tuesday morning at the latest. So that's taking a long time and the cleanup taking a long time as well.

Good news, though, is that we're staying dry here, upper level disturbance has crossed the Great Lakes and so that's keeping all the active weather off to the east. We still have some very high levels and still some cresting going on.

And near northern parts of Missouri, there you can see what we are anticipating. We're really just looking at Clarksville now, downstream down towards St. Louis where we're going to be seeing those crests taking place for tomorrow. But keep in mind though, as river levels are going to still stay very, very high.

All right. From flooding to fires. Go ahead and take a look at some of these pictures I want to show you of wild fires that are burning in parts of the west in California. This is the Napa County, more than 600 fires started between yesterday and Friday, many of which were due to dry lightning, dry thunderstorms. No rain but they produce lightening and they spark fires very easily over dry conditions.

This fire that you're looking at over 3,500 acres is now 10 percent contained. The National Guard has been called into help. On shore winds are starting to push into the area, some of that are starting to help. Now, dry thunderstorms are expected again today but it's going to be a little farther in land. We'll be watching Nevada, across parts of Utah, and then in to western Colorado for those threat.

Temperatures -- are still terrible. Look at the heat index. It feels like a 106 in Vegas, 101 in Phoenix, 92 in Fresno there, 87 degrees in Salt Lake City. So, the heat is still sticking around. We'll such watches become suppressed a little bit especially by tomorrow. By the middle of the week, it's going to feel a lot better

Severe thunderstorms across the northeast, Fredricka. Some damaging winds and large hail will be possible. We've got some big time delays at many of the airports as a result of this. So, if you got flights today or early tomorrow, call ahead.

Look at this -- JFK, over three hours now. That's not fun for anybody.

WHITFIELD: No -- already? Although in the evening, the latter part of the day, almost everyday, there's always a delay coming out of JFK.

(CROSSTALK)

JERAS: There's just no way to get there if you're coming from the west.

WHITFIELD: Darn, I'm feeling for you people, waiting for your plane to take off.

JERAS: Hopefully, they are watching.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And watching and hopefully holding into their patience.

JERAS: We feel your pain.

WHITFIELD: We feel it.

All right. Thanks, Jacqui, appreciate it.

All right. Well, the flooding continues to be a huge concern as the record high flood waters and breached levees forced thousands from their homes and businesses. This week's CNN hero was on the scene to help. And that's no surprise. In fact, when disasters of any kind hit cities and towns all across America, Tad Skylar Agoglia is ready to roll. He is a CNN Hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got 20 reports of tornados.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eight people were killed after severe weather...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it goes.

WHITFIELD: Crews are fighting fires on several fronts.

TAD SKYLAR AGOGLIA, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: The most critical phase of a disaster is the first few days. That's when you have to find the people that are in desperate need of medical attention, food, water. But you pull up and there is a building lying in the middle of the road, or if 20 miles is under water, how do you get all those resources to those people? I got this crazy idea to use one of my cranes to respond to a disaster and just open up roads. So that the real heroes have the resources they need to continue to serve.

My name is Tad Skylar Agoglia. I provide help and hope to those in their greatest hour of need.

These people in life support, those people on oxygen, these people are going to die if don't get there.

I put together a crew that stays on the road 12 months out of the year, responds to disasters all over America free of charge.

As soon as we see a threat striking anywhere in the United States, we feel it's severe enough, we leave immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know where we can be of some help?

AGOGLIA: We see a lot of death, we see a lot of destruction, but, there is something beautiful about looking at a disaster and seeing what good could come out of it.

Often times, I'm asked why I do this. And I can't help but think why aren't more people doing this?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, it was a CNN viewer just like you who told us about Tad Skylar Agoglia. In fact, this year, all of our CNN Heroes are extraordinary people that you have nominated on our Web site. So, go to CNN.com/heroes right now.

And if you know someone who deserves to be a CNN Hero, tell us about them. You never know, you could see your hero right here on CNN.

Well, the alleged teen pregnancy pact has actress and adolescent advocate, Jane Fonda talking. She'll join us live.

And next: Police think this man, accused of defrauding investors, faked his death and is now on the run. When we come back, how easy it is to hide in plain sight. A former FBI agent joins us live in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A major manhunt entered it's third week today in New York State. Authorities are looking for a former Wall Street executive convicted of bilking investors out of almost $500 million. Samuel Israel III disappeared the day he was supposed to report to prison.

Our Randi Kaye has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's a wanted man. But is Samuel Israel alive or dead? Authorities wish they knew. Israel, the co-founder of Bayou hedge fund pleaded guilty in 2005 to stealing more than $450 million from it's clients in a fraud scheme. He's been out on bail, cooperating with prosecutors.

(on-camera): On Monday, Israel was supposed to report to prison in Massachusetts by 2:00 p.m. That morning, around 9:00 a.m. police say he left his home here in Armonk, New York, about an hour outside Manhattan, telling his live-in girlfriend I'm driving to prison. Israel never showed up.

(voice-over): Instead, hours later, his GMC Envoy was found on the Bear Mountain Bridge, perched 150 feet above the New York's Hudson River. Keys are still in the ignition, Israel nowhere in sight. A bizarre message etched in dust on the car's hood. It reads, "Suicide is painless" -- the name of the theme song from the "Mash" television show, and the same song that played during a fake suicide in the original "Mash" movie.

It's enough to make investigators wonder - did Israel jumped or did he run? They are trolling the river for his body.

SGT. DENNIS STOLL, ROCKLAND COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: We'll continue to search. If it takes a week, a month, or you know, the next - the rest of the summer.

KAYE: A skeptical U.S. attorney has issued a warrant for Israel's arrest. The FBI and U.S. Marshals aren't ruling out any possibilities. The marshals reportedly are questioning a possible get away driver seen on the bridge. Israel's attorney did not return our calls.

Forty-eight-year-old Israel grew up in New Orleans. His father was a trader, too. He comes from a wealthy family. He's divorced and often described as charming. He had a pacemaker and had been through nine back surgeries and considered 20 years in prison a death sentence.

KAYE (on camera): Do you think he took his life?

ROSS INTELISANO, ATTORNEY: I think it is unlikely that he jumped off the bridge.

KAYE (voice-over): Attorney Ross Intelisano says his clients collectively lost $25 million in the fraud scheme.

INTELISANO: I don't think it's that much of a stretch for him to, you know, potentially, you know, put on this ruse, if that's what it is, and just try to escape.

KAYE: A spokesman for the bridge authority tells us there are four security cameras on the bridge. They're not monitored and they're not very sophisticated.

(on camera): In fact, we're told they may not be good enough to tell the difference between a car and truck, let alone pick up someone jumping.

(voice-over): Oddly, this is not the first possible suicide in the Bayou hedge fund case. After the fraud was exposed, Israel's partner, Dan Marino left this note at the office. It says, "This is my combined confession and suicide letter." Marino didn't attempt suicide and today is in prison where his former partner, Samuel Israel was supposed to be.

Randy Kaye, CNN New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: OK. So, Samuel Israel III certainly isn't the first high profile criminal, or alleged criminal to vanish to avoid prison and he could have the money to go on and run and stay on the run. So, how hard is it to stay hidden?

Don Clark knows all about hunting down fugitives. He used to be the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau's Houston division. He joins us now from Houston.

Good to see you, Don.

DON CLARK, FMR. FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Good to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, are you doubtful that he took his life?

CLARK: Yes, I'm really doubtful about it.

WHITFIELD: Why?

CLARK: You know, the suicide thing seems like a bit of a ruse to me. And this guy is probably in a position that he can go, at least for a period of time, without being detected. But I think depending, Fredricka, on what the law -- how committed the law enforcement is to really try to get him, will determine just how long he might stay out there.

WHITFIELD: It sure would seem that in this day and age of cell phones, of ATMs, credit cards, all of these electronic gadgets out there, it would be hard for anyone to just kind of vanish off the face of the earth. Why would this case be any difference?

CLARK: Well, I couldn't agree with you more. And for people who are so accustomed, and I know that people in those type of high power jobs, we all live by those tools today. And to just break away from them without doing any of them, may be what causes him to get caught.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, there is monitoring of any people that may have been in your life. In his case perhaps, his girlfriend who was also, I guess, taken into custody. She was charged and was released out on bond. But, certainly, they're going to be watching to see if, in any way, she has any dialogue with him because she, allegedly, helped pack his bags before he vanished, right? CLARK: Well, you know they're going to go to the girlfriend. But if this guy is going to have any success whatsoever, he's going to have to take a page out of one of John Grisham's most recent books and not getting contact with anybody in the past, because I can assure you, there's no one that law enforcement knows about that, is not going to be looked at and periodically checked to see what type of contact that they're having.

You really have to divorce yourself from the life that you know. And, you know, Fredricka, that I know from experience in dealing with some of these, it's very difficult, they have to reach back to the neighborhood so to speak.

WHITFIELD: Right. And that might include this girlfriend, Debra Ryan. Meantime, let's talk about the money. He is alleged to have built millions of dollars. So, where would you keep that money if, indeed, that were the case?

CLARK: Well, you know, there are plenty offshore banking opportunities that people can get money out of the country. I think, perhaps, getting the money out of the country especially if you didn't know that this person was going to take this avenue and run like this.

Now, knowing that the person is on the run, then I'm sure that there are mechanisms in place to really monitor those foreign transfers and money exchanges. But before, I doubt if anybody took a look at that. So, it's my belief that he could very well have money stashed in a number of places. But that's not going to be to save him at all (ph) because he's really got to change his lifestyle, totally.

WHITFIELD: Yes, but even oversees, if your money is elsewhere, there is still some record of some huge transaction. And I would think that these investigators would be looking at that, would be able to monitor that and have an idea whether he's got huge amount of cash at hand.

CLARK: Yes. But bear in mind, also, is that, if he had this in mind, that he certainly is not going to put this in his name, in anybody else's name. So, he could really be there, disguise, in ways that would make it difficult, not impossible for the law enforcement community. But, as you said, they're going to be looking at it but this would certainly make it more difficult.

WHITFIELD: Wow, it's a fascinating case. Don Clark, thanks so much for being with us, from Houston.

CLARK: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, overseas, coming up, one of the candidates in Zimbabwe's presidential runoff is pulling out. Why? And what's next in that country's election crisis? We'll take you live to South Africa.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome back. Here's what's happening right now. Families await word on hundreds of loved ones who took a ferry in the Philippines that flipped in a deadly typhoon. A short time ago the head of the Philippines' Red Cross told us there is hope of a possible air pocket within the ship's hull that might support survivors.

The muddy Mississippi is cresting today in northern Missouri and south of St. Louis. The waters continue to rise along the hard-hit stretch in the middle.

More disturbing news out of Zimbabwe. Amid a deadly campaign by the government, the country's opposition leader withdrew today from the presidential runoff that's set for this Friday. Morgan Tsvangirai said his followers risk death by voting. The forces loyal to President Robert Mugabe have killed dozens of opposition supporters since Mugabe's second place finish in the general election this past March.

With more on the story, CNN's David McKenzie. And we'll remind viewers that the reason you are having to report this from South Africa, is CNN and other international journalists are not allowed into Zimbabwe -- David?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fredricka, we are not allowed in Zimbabwe because of the attitude toward honest reporting by international observers and international reports. It has been stunning news coming out of Zimbabwe. Our reporters giving updates continuously to CNN. They say that the opposition has had weeks of violence against them and finally the movement for democratic change saying enough is enough.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SIMBABWE OPPOSITION LEADER: We at the embassy have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate sham of the election process. The courageous people of Zimbabwe, of this country, and the people of the embassy have done everything humanly and democratically as possible to deliver a new Zimbabwe and a new government. We now urge the NDC and the United Nations to intervene urgently in this unprecedented situation to restore the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: There has been international criticism both from the West and from Africa making strident demands on Mugabe to negotiate with the NDC, but those criticisms have fallen on deaf ears, Fredricka. It seems now that President Mugabe is going to continue his reign of Zimbabwe's people.

WHITFIELD: David, when we talk about the opposition leaders who have been threatened, intimidated and, in many cases, killed, what about the voters? Do they understand that this opposition has to finally surrender or do they wish that he would have stayed in?

MCKENZIE: There must be conflicted feelings in Harare and across Zimbabwe tonight. There was a long debate with the opposition whether they should in fact pull out of this race. But they are saying the threat towards the voters, towards their supports who are going to those polls was just too great and that they could risk their lives by going to vote. There's been extended intimidation, both from NDC saying that the (inaudible) is intimidating them and from independent observers saying that scores of people have been killed, thousands pushed from their homes. The scenario for the ordinary Zimbabwean is extremely difficult tonight. and they see a very difficult period ahead for themselves.

WHITFIELD: Boy, it is a sad situation. It's hard for anyone to be hopeful at this juncture.

David McKenzie, thanks so much from Johannesburg, South Africa.

This has been one of the most read stories on the Internet this week, a possible pregnancy club at a high school in New England. How do you keep something like that from happening in your community? This is one of Jane Fonda's causes. She is with us live in the studio to talk about it, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: With high gas prices, taking the bus or train to work can be good for your pocketbook and for the environment. But an Atlanta woman found it was also good for her health as well.

Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with today's "Fit Nation."

(FIT NATION)

Everybody can identify to this. High school kids are supposed to be in the drama club or in the Beta club or something like that. So when a group of girls allegedly formed a pregnancy club, the community and the country shook their heads in disbelieve.

Well, Jane Fonda, has been in the front lines in the battle against teen pregnancy for years now. Her thoughts on this story right here in the "NEWSROOM," coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well it is a story that made headlines around the world. It spread like wildfire on the Internet. Seventeen girls at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts have gotten pregnant, some as young as 15. They reportedly formed a pact to get pregnant and raise their babies together. Well, take that as well as the teen pregnancy rate nationwide has increased. And it has some people wondering exactly what is going on.

Actress, Jane Fonda has been a long-time activist in teen pregnancy prevention. She helped set up the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health at Emory University here in Atlanta and she founded the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. She is with us now to talk more about this.

And, Jane, this story must have had you seeing magenta given all that you do and advocate.

JANE FONDA, ACTRESS & TEEN PREGNANCY PREVENTION ACTIVIST: I wish that it had surprised me. I was hoping -- I said this is a great learning opportunity. I hope someone asks me to say something about it.

One of the girls in the high school, not one of the pregnant girls, but another student said nobody made them a better offer. That really speaks volumes. You had a group of girls who were lonely, bored and who were seeking community. They didn't feel community. It's a poor town. You know, it is a fishing industry. The fishing business has tanked and so the town is struggling. And these girls -- also there is no access to prevention. The two people who run the local reproductive health clinic, they quit because they weren't allowed to provide contraception in spite of the scandal that's happened.

WHITFIELD: Should I be surprised though that it -- I thought, given the awareness in schools or in communities, that young people know that you can't have a baby and expect that all you're going to get is this unconditional love, that there's this huge responsibility that comes with it. So where's the disconnect here?

FONDA: They are not being taught that. We have had eight years of an administration that says -- it's like the ostrich with its head in the say -- well, they are not doing anything. You have to stay abstinent until you are married. The fact that kids are not staying abstinent, they're not doing anything to help and teach the kids and teach the kids.

These kids don't know that unconditional love -- they are the ones that have to give the love in the beginning, not the children to them. And the other thing that they don't know is how important fathers are. It is like these girls think that fathers are irrelevant, that children, boys and girls, can grow up without an involved father. It is just wrong.

They need comprehensive sexuality education in all the schools around the country. They need accessible, affordable health care that includes contraception for the kids that are sexually active. Adult mentors, ideally parents are involved and paying attention. And if the parents aren't, coaches and teachers. And they need community based program.

WHITFIELD: Where do you think this is coming from? When you talk about and underscore that a lot of these young girls are thinking that they can do it on their own, that they're -- there don't need to be fathers involved, do you want to blame some of the celebrities who have gotten pregnant before marriage who are saying I can do this on my own or is it something much greater than that?

FONDA: It is much greater than that. We are depriving young people, the poor kids -- because that is where the highest rates of teen pregnancy are, the poor kids, of a sense that they matter. Hope is the best contraceptive. We have learned that over our 13 years of working in Georgia. If you give kids a sense that they have a future becoming that would be compromised if they have a baby too soon, they may remain sexually active, but they will engage in safe sex.

WHITFIELD: So it sounds like it is starting at home. Parents...

(CROSSTALK)

FONDA: Parents have to be involved.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: ... have to have these conversations with these...

(CROSSTALK)

FONDA: But the community as a whole. This should be the ideal thing that would happen is that the community would say we are ignoring our young people. They are bored. We have to develop community based programs and pay attention to them.

You know the thing that happened here in Rockdale, Georgia, five, six, seven years ago, same type of thing. It's not unique to Gloucester. But it happens when kids are left alone and done feel engaged in their community, so they look to create their own community. That is why the pact happened.

WHITFIELD: So right now, we can't count on school systems to have these programs that you are suggesting because that too will take time. For this immediate, this weekend, for a parent who is watching, for a young person who is watching, any family member, what kind of dialogue do we need to be having with our young kids, girls and boys, about the responsibly of what happens next after getting pregnant that huge responsibility of, oh, my gosh, here's a baby?

FONDA: Parents around the country should use what has happened in Gloucester as a teaching opportunity to sit down and say this is what happened. What do you think about it? Do you understand the risk that it puts these girls in? If an opportunity came their way, it would be hard for them to take advantage of it. It's an intergenerational transfer of poverty. This is an opportunity for parents to teach their kids how to avoid pregnancy, why it is best not to engage in sexual activity until they are ready and to let the kids know that you care about them, that you're paying attention.

WHITFIELD: I'm an old mother of a 3.5 year old and I can't imagine -- while it is a huge responsibility, while there are great rewards of being a mom, if I were in my teenaged years, I'm not self sufficient, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself in life, all these huge, grand decisions I need to make for self sufficiency and to create my own path, I can't imagine taking on this responsibility as a young person.

FONDA: Unless your life is so bereft of attention being paid, of love being given, of feeling that you are rooted in a family and a community. Absent all that, the problems that come with having a baby when you're a baby don't seem so great. It is those other things we have to fill in so that they are not looking to have a baby. Get a dog. Don't have a baby. Because, you know, it breaks my heart that they want...

WHITFIELD: It's about getting -- receiving love back.

FONDA: That they want their friends to have babies and bring them up together, it just shows how lonely, and how much they want a community. So build them a community that is healthy and productive.

WHITFIELD: Jane Fonda, it was so great to talk to you.

FONDA: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Great work that you are doing here in Georgia. We know it is reaching across state lines as well and encouraging a lot of people to have that dialog.

FONDA: Thank you. It is, but as you said, the numbers are going up because of this administration not paying attention to the issue, just having their head in the sand, not paying attention.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate your time.

FONDA: Thank you, Fredricka.

All right, CNN's conversation about teen pregnancy continues tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern. We're not done with it. It has gotten so many people talking in so many corners and that's a good thing. Don Lemmon speaks with a group of young people from very different backgrounds, but who share a common experience, parenthood at an early age. That's tonight, 10:00 eastern, right here in the "NEWSROOM."

Politics straight ahead as well. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the government in her bedroom. Dr. Maya Angelou, the poet, talks politics, coming up next.

But first tennis fans around the world are looking forward to the next big event on the grand slam tour. We are talking about Wimbledon. It gets under way tomorrow. Our Mark McKay is "On the Go" at all England Lawn Tennis Club.

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WHITFIELD: More of my conversation with Dr. Maya Angelou. I caught up with her at the National PTA convention in San Diego. She spoke about the U.S. presidential election after passionately applauding the role of parents and teachers.

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MAYA ANGELOU, ARTHUR & POET, FORMER POET LAUREATE: They are very, very, very important. And these are the people who are the bulwark against our going to hell in a bucket, against the flowing tide of child obesity and childhood brutality, brutalities to children. And these are the people, the parents and the teachers. Those are the ones whose -- are the last of the levees, so I want to commend them.

WHITFIELD: I've talked to a lot of teachers and I know you have too, who say their job is difficult because they are finding when the kids come to school they are not prepared to learn. There are so many other distractions that children are dealing with. Many teachers are complaining that they are feeling like baby-sitters and they're not getting a chance to do what their craft has taught them to teach.

ANGELOU: Yes. Well, this is true. I think a lot of the blame, however, before I put it onto the parents, I would put a lot of the blame onto the government because we have become so lax, and too many factors of the society. We've taken out of the school, the arts, and we've taken physical education.

WHITFIELD: And what do you see the consequences of this and what are the solutions because many school districts will tell you that they are simply strapped for cash. They have to make cuts somewhere.

ANGELOU: I know. But why do they -- at all times, a thinker must thing. You must always ask why. Why are they stretched for cash? Where does the money go? You see?

WHITFIELD: When you talk about childhood obesity being one big problem, is this something that you think federal government should be more involved in?

ANGELOU: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: In what way?

ANGELOU: I don't want government in my bedroom. I don't want government in my kitchen very much. Just make sure that the vittles I buy in the store are fresh and healthy. I don't want government in my living room to tell me who I can and cannot entertain. But I do want government when it comes to help.

WHITFIELD: Your good friend, Oprah Winfrey, has been very clear that she is campaigning for Barack Obama. But I understand that you have been a very strong Hillary Clinton supporter.

ANGELOU: That's true.

WHITFIELD; So now that it is Barack Obama who is the presumptive Democratic nominee, are you putting your full support behind him or -- is the jury still out?

ANGELOU: Absolutely. Absolutely behind him.

WHITFILD: What do you like?

ANGELOU: I was with Hillary Clinton with all I had because I believed in her. And I think I love the fact that she lasted until the very end. I want a president to be that strong. However, since we are a democracy, the majority wants Senator Obama. And she has done the best she could. Then I know she's going to put everything she has behind Obama and so am I. I am his.

Senator Obama, I am yours.

WHITIFLED: What did like about -- what did you like about Hillary Clinton?

ANGELOU: She's a woman. To become a woman is no small matter. It means you fall down and you get up. You fall down and you get up. You are knocked down sometimes and you get up and you get up still living it, still trying to smile, still trying to be the best you can be. When a woman walks in the room, people know a woman is here.

WHITFIELD: How are you hoping she will play a role in this general election?

ANGELOU: I think that is up to her. I dare not say. I wouldn't do that. Whatever she decides to do, I'm going to support her.

WHITFIELD: Maya Angelou, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.

And happy belated birthday. You look incredible. You celebrated your 80th birthday this past April.

ANGELOU: Thank you. I'm celebrating it now. It is my 80th year.

WHITFIELD: I like that.

ANGELOU: I'm celebrating right through the year.

WHITFIELD: Well, continue your festivities then. Happy birthday.

ANGELOU: Thank you. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And Dr. Maya Angelou says she is working on a new book called, "Letters to My Daughters". She has no daughters by birth, but she says she has lots of young women in her life that she considers to be just like daughters.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thanks for joining me for the last couple of hours. Don Lemon is up next with the headlines, including the story about a protest over shark meat. A food bank doesn't want that kind of donation. That's next, in the "NEWSROOM."

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