Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Georgia Expands Concealed Carry Law; Slump in the Showroom; Barack Obama Speaks in Zanesville, Ohio; Manhunt for a Serial Killer?

Aired July 01, 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: All right, let's start with that new law: locked, loaded and legal. In much of the country there are concealed carry laws in effect, meaning any number of people you encounter throughout your day may be carrying a handgun: the guy driving or riding next to you on your morning commute, coworkers, your lunch break buddies, pedestrians on the street, other shoppers at the mall, other drinkers at the bar.
Supporters of concealed carry say packing in public promotes public safety. Opponents say there's just no need for everybody to be carrying a deadly weapon permit or no permit.

The right to bear arms clearly today a loaded issue. And Georgians today get the right to bear arms in more places. The state's expanded concealed carry law took effect at midnight, and licensed gun owners can now take them into most state parks, restaurants and on public transportation.

CNN's Brooke Baldwin has been talking to commuters at a MARTA train station here in Atlanta.

And I'm very interested as to what they had to say, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don.

They're definitely split. I would say 50/50. But I think the most interesting point is the fact that those people who -- a lot of people did not even know about this new law. So you have the people who were split and a lot of people had no idea.

You take a look around, this is one of the busier MARTA stations here in downtown Atlanta. And you wouldn't know there is a new law into effect here today in Georgia.

You mentioned this House bill 89. It not only affects public transportation, trains, buses here on MARTA, but also restaurants and also state parks.

But the big story it seems at this point in the afternoon is the fact it is really the question is will this House bill, will this new law carry into the airport? There was a press conference held by the general manager of Hartsfield International Airport. It is the world's second -- or rather the world's busiest airport. And he spoke, and I want to read you essentially what he said, because he said this new law does not pertain to airport property. He said the Georgia code Section 1611-127 (ph), the airport is a publicly owned and operated building. It is owned by the city of Atlanta. Therefore, firearms are prohibited on airport property.

Mayor Shirley Franklin reiterated the city's stance in opposition of the new law. They're saying, if you dare to carry a firearm, a concealed firearm, even if you have this concealed weapons permit, onto property, they will arrest you on the spot. But the bill's sponsor, Tim Bearden, a Republican representative out of Villa Rica -- that's a suburb of Atlanta -- he says if someone is arrested he will sue the city.

Let's hear what he had to say a little earlier today on the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM BEARDEN (R), GEORGIA STATE HOUSE: We have a state law in place. We just had the United States Supreme Court decision coming down and saying it's an individual right for safety to defend themselves, an individual right to own a firearm. Our Constitution in Georgia States you have the right to keep and bear arms, and the state law just opened up to more places on public transportation. There's 44 other States that allow public transportation carry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So Representative Bearden says one thing. Mayor Franklin, the general manager of the airport say clearly something else. So we might just have to wait and see how this new law plays out, if anyone tests it to see how it's played out in court, eventually when that might happen -- Don.

LEMON: Yes. And good job of getting that on, because I just saw this cross now.

BALDWIN: Yes.

LEMON: It says that the general manager released a statement declaring the airport a gun-free zone.

Brooke, we appreciate your reporting. Thanks for getting that on for us today.

BALDWIN: Sure.

LEMON: Kyra.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Florida is another state with a new law that's coming under fire. Starting today, you can take your gun to work as long as you leave it in the car. Specifically, the law allows workers and customers to keep guns in their cars when parked in lots owned by private and government employers. It's being challenged in court though.

And one other note. Illinois and Wisconsin are the only States that do not permit carrying a concealed weapon. Most States allow it under certain circumstances, as long as you do have a permit.

Now we'd like to hear from you. Get your thoughts on concealed weapons laws. You can e-mail us, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com, and we'll read some of your comments right here on the air.

Now, in about 20 minutes, we're going to look at some of the legalities of concealed carry with former U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander. Then at 3:15 Eastern, we're going to talk security with Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington.

LEMON: Breaking news from the auto industry. GM sales dropped about 18 percent in June. But believe it or not, that's better than expected news.

GM maintains its spot at the number one U.S. automaker. There was fear that Toyota might surpass it in U.S. sales for the first time ever, but the Japanese automaker just posted a 21 percent sales drop. Ford says its June sales plunged nearly 28 percent, battered by high gas prices, low demand and a struggling economy.

PHILLIPS: Well, pay at the pump, slump in the showroom, a struggling economy, a one-two-three punch for U.S. automakers. And today they are showing some bruises.

Our next guest calls it a historic downturn. He's Neal Boudette, the Detroit bureau chief for "The Wall Street Journal."

Neal, good to see you.

NEAL BOUDETTE, DETROIT BUREAU CHIEF, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": A pleasure to be here.

PHILLIPS: I wish it were better circumstances, but...

BOUDETTE: Yes, sure.

PHILLIPS: ... now you have come forward and said this is a historic downturn. Let's talk about why this is happening. It's not just the fact that the economy is turning down, but consumers are changing their ways, right?

BOUDETTE: That's very true. There's actually two things that affect it right now. One is the economy's down, so people are buying fewer cars. But at the same time, they're also buying different cars than they bought in the past.

In the past, Americans favored trucks, pickup trucks and SUVs. And they're moving very rapidly away from that into small cars, compacts and sedans. And that's really hitting Detroit very hard, because they mainly sell trucks, or they make most of their money on trucks. And so they're getting hit by both of these trends at the same time.

PHILLIPS: But didn't they see the fact that gas prices were getting higher, that you can follow the trends on what consumers are doing? Why did they continue to make more trucks? BOUDETTE: Well, in the auto industry it takes a couple of years to produce a new vehicle. And so if you go back to 2005, 2006, even 2004, the Detroit automakers essentially bet that truck sales were going to remain fairly healthy going forward. They didn't expect gas to go to $4 a gallon, and so they tailored their product line for a different scenario than we have now, and frankly they guessed wrong.

PHILLIPS: Wow, so it was a bad guess. So if they would have made a better guess, they could have gotten ahead of the curve, maybe started building different types of cars? Or does that take forever also with regard to design and planning and all of that?

BOUDETTE: Well, it does take a couple of years. But in 2005, somebody could have made a bold bet that the market was going to shift and put much more money into developing cars, or even producing hybrids faster than they have been able to. And maybe they might be in a little bit better shape than they are today.

PHILLIPS: So what do they do now to catch up? Obviously going to be a painful process.

BOUDETTE: It's a very painful process. Just yesterday, Chrysler announced they are closing a minivan plant in St. Louis. GM has announced they're closing four truck plants.

And what they are trying to do, as fast as they can, is switch over from making more than 50 percent trucks to making as many cars as they possibly can. They're rushing, but it takes time, and it takes a couple of years to do that.

PHILLIPS: So I guess looking forward now, is there an opportunity here for the smaller car companies to kind of...

BOUDETTE: Sure.

PHILLIPS: OK. So there's a good sign?

BOUDETTE: Well, companies that are very good at small cars -- and Honda is one of them -- are doing very well in this environment. In fact, even though the market is headed for a big drop in June, Honda's sales are up about 14 percent.

They just announced that a few minutes ago. And that's because they sell the Honda Civic, the Honda Accord, the Honda Fit, all small cars that are very popular with Americans. And so they are taking advantage of that.

PHILLIPS: Wow. So, I am assuming we're going to see more layoffs.

BOUDETTE: Well, that's probably likely. The big three will probably have to do some more downsizing than they already have. How much remains open to question. But you really can't rule out more job losses.

PHILLIPS: So hopefully then we won't see any major closings? Maybe some alliances forged?

BOUDETTE: Well, I think long term, it will be tough for all three Detroit automakers to remain independent. And of course, that's not a radical idea.

Remember, Chrysler was owned by DaimlerChrysler at one point. So this has happened in the past. And Chrysler is linked up with Nissan now, and a furthering of that partnership is certainly possible. And, of course, GM and Ford could also look for international partners, too.

PHILLIPS: So, Neal, what are you driving?

BOUDETTE: I've got a Chrysler Pacifica, and my other car is a BMW 3 Series. So I've got one foot in each camp. One in Detroit and one in foreign.

PHILLIPS: Well, you've got to be able to have both sides of the story, right?

BOUDETTE: That's true.

PHILLIPS: OK. Neal, appreciate it.

BOUDETTE: A pleasure to be here.

PHILLIPS: "Wall Street Journal" Detroit bureau chief.

Thanks again.

LEMON: I thought he was going to say a hybrid or the subway or something like that.

You can see those live pictures now of Barack Obama. We want to get to Zanesville, Ohio, where Barack Obama is speaking. And he is talking about faith, making comments on faith and religion.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... federal mandates like No Child Left Behind or special education to free up resources at local school levels so that they can do more with the money that they have.

Number two, to provide billions of dollars in funding for early childhood education programs so that kids are getting prepared when they start school.

Number three, providing additional money to hire, retain and train excellent teachers, which is probably the single biggest determinant as to whether children do well in school.

So overall we are looking at $18 billion in additional federal money going to local school districts to give them the flexibility to use those resources in effective ways. And if a particular school district needs bus service as part of that strategy, then we want to make sure that they are getting those resources. But we've got to put a special emphasis on what's happening in rural schools, because they're having some particular problems.

One last point I'd make. Providing scholarships to young people who are willing to teach in under-served schools, whether it's in inner cities or in rural communities, can make an enormous difference in getting more young talent to start working at these schools.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE), do you not feel that General Clark owes John McCain an apology? And then secondly, I'm just curious, why have you not spoken to him? Have you tried to reach him?

OBAMA: You know, I guess my question is, why, given all the vast numbers of things that we've got to work on, that that would be a top priority of mine? You know, I think that, you know, right now we're here to talk about how we can make sure that kids in Zanesville and across Ohio get the kind of support that they need, and communities that are impoverished can start to rebuild.

I'm happy to have all sorts of conversations about how we deal with Iraq and what happens with Iran, but the fact that somebody on a cable show on a news show like General Clark said something that was inartful about Senator McCain, I don't think is probably the thing that is keeping Ohioans up at night.

QUESTION: So part of the reason (INAUDIBLE) didn't have these enforceable environmental and labor standards was because it might infringe on the sovereignty of the countries involved. So I'm just wondering what you would say to criticism that kind of -- you know, discussing these things with Mexico and Canada could come off as imperialist looking out for just America's interests.

OBAMA: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear that last part.

QUESTION: What do you say to criticism that, you know, wanting to renegotiate these things could come off as imperialist?

OBAMA: Well, I mean, I don't think that the United States wanting to make sure that its labor standards -- its labor standards or environmental standards aren't undermined is being imperialist. You know, there are countries all -- those same trading partners have all sorts of provisions or concerns that have to do with their economic policies and what's good for their workers that they bring up in trade negotiations.

That's why it's a negotiation. And so, you know, I think it is -- there's nothing incompatible with us wanting to be tough negotiators and look out for our interests, and still being respectful of other countries and wanting to make sure that we've got strong economic ties, particularly between countries like Canada and Mexico, that account for such a large amount of our trade.

All right? OK, guys. LEMON: All right. That's Barack Obama in Zanesville, Ohio. He was expected to talk about faith and religion there. At the end, he ended up answering questions about trade.

So you see Barack Obama there. Also, it was expected that he might have talked about General Wesley Clark's comments. Again, he spoke about that yesterday.

But again, the last part of his conversation, his comments there, had to do with trade. Barack Obama on the campaign trail in Zanesville, Ohio -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, the summer fire season's off to a roaring start in parts of the western U.S. It's so bad in some areas, that firefighters don't have time to even fight all the blazes. We're going to show you what they are up against.

LEMON: And they're all over your TV, ads for the PedEgg foot scraper. Now troubles afoot. We'll tell you why the company is being sued.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Armed, dangerous and on the run. Breaking news on a manhunt right now near the Missouri-Illinois border. Police are searching for a possible serial killer. Nicholas Sheley is wanted for questioning in at least eight deaths across two states now.

Our Susan Roesgen is live in Chicago with the latest on that search.

Hey, Susan.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

This is a huge manhunt, this search for a killer. And detectives say this Nicholas Sheley is a person of interest.

He's 28-years-old. This is a fairly recent picture. It was released on June 8th. They say he has a long history of felony convictions for robbery, weapons charges, drug charges.

The question is, is he a killer?

Just in the last week they have found eight bodies. IT started in Sterling, Illinois, on June 25th, a 94-year-old man whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car. Then yesterday, the police in Galesburg, Illinois, found a man dead behind a grocery store.

Rock Falls, Illinois, four people dead inside a home. A family -- two men, a woman and a child -- all found dead. And they may have some connection to that 94-year-old man found dead in Sterling.

And then the police in Festus, Missouri, say that two people were found dead behind a gas station. In this case, the police were led to the bodies by two bloody dogs who were wondering around in the area, may have been owned by the two people, a man and a woman, who were found dead behind that gas station.

So, why is this Nicholas Sheley a suspect? Well, in addition to his felony charges, he is from Sterling, Illinois. That's where the first murder took place, the murder of the 94-year-old man. And it is also where a couple of weeks ago he was accused of forcing his way into a 90-year-old woman's house, stealing some money from her, forcing her to write some checks. She's OK, but there has been a warrant out for his arrest in that case.

And so the police do suspect that he may have something to do with these killings. Again, eight murders in just the last week.

We're going to have a news conference, we're going to be hearing from the Missouri State Police, Illinois State Police, and the FBI in less than an hour, Kyra. And we should get more information then.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll check in with you then.

Susan, thanks so much.

Then in Maryland, a 19-year-old is found dead in his isolation jail cell one day after being arrested in the death of a police officer. Preliminary autopsy results show Ronnie White was strangled. And the FBI and state police have joined the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY HENRY, WHITE FAMILY ATTORNEY: The family of Ronnie White is absolutely, unequivocally outraged and incensed and deeply saddened that the loss of life for their loved one could be taken so cold, so callously while he was in the custody of law enforcement officials. Something is dreadfully wrong with our system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Investigators say that seven guards, as well as supervisors, had access to the suspect while he was behind bars. They want to know if anyone else did.

White was charged with first-degree murder shortly after Corporal Richard Findley was run over by a truck after a traffic stop. Authorities say that White was driving that truck.

LEMON: Well, more people are being ordered out as a wildfire moves farther into the mountains near Big Sur. Fourteen hundred firefighters from all over the country have been working this fire. Just one of hundreds still burning across northern California.

It is getting smokier around Phoenix, Arizona. This fire threatening the town of Crown King has burned 5,300 acres of forest and also three homes. Other fires are burning in other western states.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(BUSINESS REPORT) PHILLIPS: Well, packing heat in the Peach State. We'll scope out Georgia's expanded gun law when former U.S. attorney Kent Alexander joins us next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're working a couple stories for you today in the CNN NEWSROOM. Time to tell you what we're working on.

Is there a serial killer on the loose? Police are searching for a man in connection with up to eight murders in Illinois and Missouri. He's identified as 28-year-old Nicholas Sheley last seen near St. Louis.

The family of this 19-year-old Maryland man is demanding answers. Ronnie White was found strangled in his jail cell in Prince George's County. That's in Maryland. And a top county official calls it a case of vigilante justice. White was accused of killing a police officer.

A northern Illinois man is under arrest for allegedly trying to buy a deadly neurotoxin commonly found in pufferfish. The FBI raided Edward Bachner's home in a sting operation.

PHILLIPS: It's been called the forgotten war, but for the second straight month the number of U.S. and NATO troop deaths in Afghanistan has been higher than those in the Iraq War. Forty-six coalition troops died in Afghanistan in June, 31 in Iraq. Also, the number of allied troops killed in June was the highest monthly death toll since the U.S. invasion in 2001. The Pentagon says that recent militant attacks underscore that the Taliban has regrouped into a resilient insurgency.

Violent street crime in China is rare, in part because there is a virtual ban on guns. That's why a stabbing spree in Shanghai today was both surprising and bold. Police say that a man set a fire outside a police station, rushed inside, killed five officers and wounded four others before he was arrested. Police say he wanted revenge after officers at the station investigated him last year for allegedly stealing bicycles.

LEMON: Robert Mugabe's spokesman says Western critics of Zimbabwe's one-man run-off election can, "go and hang a thousand times." He was referring to the UK in particular. The remarks came during the final day of a summit of African leaders in Egypt. Publicly, they haven't criticized Mugabe for widespread campaign violence at that opposing candidate says drove him to drop out. But behind the scenes they are said to be pushing Mugabe to accept a power sharing agreement.

Freedom fighters or just goons carrying out Mugabe's orders. It is an issue of intense debate among Zimbabweans who live under the threat of almost daily violence.

CNN's Nkepile Mabuse reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Many of them are hardly champions of democracy, but the world is looking to African leaders to condemn Robert Mugabe's one-man election on June 27th and reject his presidency, a high expectation for leaders whose own hold on power in many cases is based on popular mandates that are flimsy or nonexistent.

But a clear priority for Africa is to put an end to the violence in Zimbabwe --

PRES. ROBERT MUGABE, ZIMBABWE: ... so help me God.

MABUSE: -- violence that continued even as Robert Mugabe was being sworn in on Sunday. Renewed attacks on farms. Ben Freeth is one of the few white Zimbabwean farmers left in the country, despite many of his colleagues having been violently forced off their land through an exercise Mugabe termed land reform.

He has decided to fight back. He's legally challenging attempts to take over his farm at a regional tribunal.

BEN FREETH, ZIMBABWEAN FARMER: We are not prepared to give up very easily.

MABUSE: That was last year.

This is what he looked like on Sunday. Freeth and his parents- in-law, who have been repeatedly attacked before, were again brutally assaulted, allegedly by Mugabe's so-called war veterans before being abducted. Workers on their farm were allegedly also beaten.

MUGABE: The land is ours. It's not European. It is our land.

MABUSE: Robert Mugabe says is he empowering landless blacks, but many of the farms seized illegally are given to members of his government. Mugabe continues to use his liberation credentials to demonize opposition, which he accuses of trying to help Britain and America recolonize Zimbabwe.

But Wilfred Mhanda, who fought alongside Robert Mugabe during Zimbabwe's war for independence, says what is happening in his country is not what he risked his life for.

WILFRED MHANDA, ZIMBABWEAN WAR VETERAN: We fought for freedom. We fought for democracy. Obviously it is quite evident now, Mugabe did not have that as part of his agenda. He was just fighting for personal power under the guise of liberation.

MABUSE: And it is ordinary Zimbabweans who continue to pay a high price for Mugabe to remain in power.

Nkepile Mabuse, CNN, Johannesburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: There are developments that really hit the mark for gun rights activists. The Supreme Court last week overturning D.C.'s handgun ban. And in Georgia today, an expansion of the concealed carry law. As of midnight, licensed gun owners can take firearms into more places. Among them, public transportation.

At Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, it still has its gun ban in place, but at least one state lawmaker's got it in his sights. He vowed to bring his piece to Hartsfield today. And airport officials vowed he'd be arrested.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEARDEN: They should go away, they should drop this ban that's illegal that they're going to be doing with the city of Atlanta. We just beat the city of Atlanta two months ago on a court case on preemption. So this is against the law. They do not have the authority to do what they are trying to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Former U.S. attorney Kent Alexander joins me now to take a look at all this.

Now Kent, in the end, he backed out, right?

KENT ALEXANDER, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Correct. The mayor and the head of the airport said they would have him arrested. He decided not to go forward. But I understand that his group, Georgia Carry, filed a lawsuit today.

PHILLIPS: Oh, really. They did file a lawsuit?

ALEXANDER: That's what I understand. It's been reported. I haven't seen it.

PHILLIPS: OK. So, we'll work to confirm that.

So you have Bearden saying look, I'm a concealed weapons holder, I'm going to take my gun where I want to take it. But the airport just came out with this statement, the general manager saying, no, the airport is a gun-free zone.

ALEXANDER: Yes, it is sort of a showdown at the Hartsfield- Jackson Airport corral. It was going to be very interesting this morning until he backed out. I think what's happening here is last week, we had the Supreme Court decision, which you mentioned, a very big deal under the Second Amendment. Today is the first day that this Georgia law went into effect saying that Georgians can carry concealed weapons in restaurants, public places -- with some limitations.

And the two clash right now because you've got the city saying, no guns around an airport, and the legislators saying, that's not what the state law says. So the governor, Governor Perdue here, knew that when he signed this law into effect there would be litigation. I'm not sure he knew it would be this soon, but it looks like that's what we're going to see. PHILLIPS: So let me get your take on this. Because -- if you are a registered gun owner, you have a concealed weapons permit -- people that have those weapons more than likely are going to take them on a bus, on a train, into the airport, wherever they go, because they have a permit for a reason, they want it with them.

So what does this change in the law do to protect the concealed weapons permit holder even more?

ALEXANDER: Well, it just makes it clear that you have the right to carry a concealed weapon and if there is a conflict with some state or some municipal law, as there is here with the airport, it lets you challenge it. And that's what's going on here.

Now for some other areas, like universities, I'm at Emory University, it doesn't necessarily apply to the university, but we watch it pretty carefully in light of Virginia Tech and other tragedies around the country.

PHILLIPS: This is something that's interesting, I think, to bring up also, Kent. You can buy a gun and you can get a concealed weapons permit, but you don't have to have any type of formal training on that gun.

ALEXANDER: That's right. You go to a probate court, you fill out an application, but there is a lot of background check that goes on. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has to look into your criminal record. If you've got a criminal record with a felony, you can't get a handgun. So there are some protections there. But as far as the training piece, that's not there.

PHILLIPS: Now, you are a former U.S. attorney, so how will this change in the law affect court cases, or will we really not see any kind of effect?

ALEXANDER: Well, I think we'll see a lot of court courses. Not so much in the U.S. attorneys offices, but with a lot of these city laws and township laws being challenged based on U.S. Constitutional grounds now. So it's not just the Georgia law, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week. And as I said, today, July 1st, this law went into effect and from what I understand there has already been one lawsuit filed. So I think this will be the first of many.

PHILLIPS: Does it make you concerned that it will be legal now for those with concealed weapons permits to actually sit in restaurants, sit in public places now.

ALEXANDER: Well, of course it depends who's carrying the gun. Certain people obviously may be pretty nervous.

PHILLIPS: All right. Former U.S. attorney, also now at Emory University, Kent Alexander -- appreciate your time today.

ALEXANDER: Thank you.

LEMON: How far would you go to get rid of your gas guzzling SUV? We'll show you how far one man went.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A vicious killing. A whole family of mountain gorillas slaughtered. Now the man who should have been their protector is accused of orchestrating their deaths.

CNN's Anderson Cooper has more on today's "Planet in Peril" segment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): These photographs shocked the world, a family of five rare mountain gorillas murdered in cold blood.

(on camera): Brent, you were in Congo when the gorillas were murdered. You came upon the scene. You took those now-world famous photographs of the gorillas being carried out. What was the scene like?

BRENT STIRTON, PHOTOJOURNALIST: Probably the most sobering thing that I've seen in Africa, certainly in that region.

COOPER (voice-over): Shocked by what he had seen, the photographer, Brent Stirton, and writer, Mark Jenkins, decided to track down who killed the mountain gorillas. There were plenty of suspects. Virunga National Park in central Africa is home to three rival militias, poachers, illegal charcoal producers and nearly a million refugees all fighting for survival and resources.

MARK JENKINS, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC": You can think of charcoal as kind of the cocaine of Eastern Congo, or the opium of Afghanistan. It is an incredibly lucrative business.

COOPER: The hardwood trees are cut and burned to make charcoal. A quarter of the park's southern sector has already been wiped out.

This man was the charcoal mafia's worst enemy, the warden of the park's southern sector, Paulin Ngobobo.

JENKINS: He took an extraordinary risk to protect the park, which is, in a sense, protecting the gorilla. Because if you cut down the trees you have no habitat for the gorillas.

COOPER: Ngobobo believes the gorilla massacre was a message sent directly to him and his rangers, a warning to back off of their efforts to curtail the illegal production of charcoal. But Ngobobo could never have imagined who was behind it. That person, Ngobobo now believes, was none other than his boss, the chief warden of the park, Honore Mashagiro. The very man entrusted with protecting the park and the gorillas, he says, was running the illegal charcoal ring.

(on camera): So the guy is in charge of the park is actually --

STIRTON: To protect it -- COOPER: -- the head of the charcoal mafia.

JENKINS: He's a king pin. That's right.

COOPER (voice-over): For his part, Mashagiro denies any involvement, but he's now standing trial for orchestrating the murder of the mountain gorillas.

Anderson Cooper, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And you can watch the entire investigation into the gorilla killings tonight, it's "Explorer: Gorilla Murders." It begins at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on the National Geographic channel. The probe is also the cover story in this month's issue of "National Geographic."

Ahead, a look at the cities with the safest drivers in America. Is your city included?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So how hard is it to sell an SUV when gas prices are this high? It is so hard that one man in Denver is going to extremes. CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" from New York.

What's he doing, Poppy?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: He certainly is. Just wait until you see this. It is not something you see every day. A Denver man may look like a panhandler, but he just wants to sell his gas guzzling jeep. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I put an ad for my jeep on craigslist and I put a sign on the jeep, and it just hasn't even sold. I see people advertising with their signs for companies on the side of the roads and stuff, I figured I would give it a shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well he is certainly trying, so some credit there. This man's story is typical, even if his method is anything but.

There just is not much of a market these days for SUVs, new or used. And believe it or not, the best option for people out there, Kyra, in this situation may just be to hold on to their SUVs.

PHILLIPS: Well why is that? Explain more.

HARLOW: Yes, of course. I couldn't believe it when I saw that either.

But for many SUV owners, selling now could mean losing thousands of dollars in order to save hundreds of dollars. One way to figure out whether you'll save is use a gas mileage calculator. You see one right there on edmunds.com. It has a good one on their Web site. You can figure out what you are really going to save.

The irony is if you can afford the gas bill this could be a very good time to buy an SUV because sellers are desperate to unload them. Now, if you buy one or if you end up keeping the SUV you already have, here are some tips to save.

First, only use the SUV when it is absolutely necessary. That may seem common sense, but if you have a smaller car in your house, use it when you can. Also, plan on consolidating your trips. And also you're going to want to call the store ahead of time if you are running errands, make sure they have the products you are looking for instead of driving around trying to find it. Finally, slow down, ease up on the gas pedal. That's going to save you a lot of money on gas, Kyra.

More tips like this on our site, CNNMoney.com. But I love this story of this man in Denver doing what he can to try and save.

PHILLIPS: Pretty creative. Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, pretty creative. Sure.

LEMON: One of the nation's safest cities to drive in -- according to a ranking by Allstate Insurance company, Sioux Falls, South Dakota has the safest drivers. Motorists there have an accident on average once every 14.6 years. Ft. Collins, Colorado ranked second with 13.4 years between crashes. What about Chattanooga, Tennessee? It is third.

It is a rougher ride in some big cities, though. Drivers in Chicago wreck every 7.6 years. In Los Angeles, it's just over seven years. And Philly, Philadelphia motorists have accidents every 6.6 years.

PHILLIPS: All right. It is probably the grossest tease that we've had in six months. They're all over your TV ads. The PedEgg foot scraper. Oh, yes.

LEMON: Right at lunch time on the West Coast. I'm sure they're enjoying that.

PHILLIPS: Trouble's afoot. We're going to tell you why the company is being sued.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, you've seen it here on CNN lots of times -- probably too many times -- the PedEgg commercial. The foot care device right here, it files away all of the warts, calluses, you get the idea. Well now it is at the center after legal fight. A Florida couple who modeled for the ad claims that they were told the commercial was only for the Internet, but later they saw themselves on TV and earlier in the NEWSROOM CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin talked about the case with our Heidi Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: These actors are claiming that they were duped, that they had a verbal agreement with the ad agency and with the company that they would show up, they would be paid about $300 for a two-day shoot, that they would only be shown hand and feet, that they would receive this pedicure, manicure, and that the project was only going to be an Internet-only infomercial. They are also saying, Heidi, that any other -- they agreed that any other additional usage would be negotiated and that they would be compensated.

Now they are saying that it is sort after bait-and-switch. They are seeing it all over the place. And I think what is interesting is when we spoke to his attorney, their attorney, rather, the attorney said, "For my clients, this case is primarily about appropriate compensation for the right to use their images in the PedEgg commercial. They were told not to worry, that they would be contacted in the future to iron out the scope of usage, that is, how and where their images would be used."

And so that is really at the heart of it. They are saying their image has been used in ways that they did not agree to.

We also, though, spoke to PedEgg. PedEgg made their position very clear. PedEgg says, "At this time our company has not been served. We believe that the lawsuit as described has no merit and we will vigorously defend any claims made against our company."

So I got to tell you, it is a real and viable legal case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So Sunny Hostin thinks the case might have legs. In their suit the couple, by the way they are married, also claims, Don, that after they arrived for the ad shoot, that their feet were doctored with so-called horror makeup for dramatic effect.

LEMON: It looks like a cheese grater, it looks like grated parmesan falling out. It --

PHILLIPS: You had to go there. I will never have parmesan cheese on my pasta again. Thank you!

LEMON: All right. Before I put my foot in my mouth -- I'm going to move on. It does smell like cheese in here though.

He's been on TV and in the movies, now Moe is missing. A celebrity chimp at large.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A lot of people in southern California are asking, where's Moe? The 42-year-old chimpanzee escaped from an animal sanctuary Friday and apparently headed into the San Bernardino National Forest. A weekend search came up empty and the people who raised Moe fear for his safety now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LADONNA DAVIS, MOE'S CO-OWNER: This is a new environment for him. We don't know if he can survive it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the couple brought Moe from Tanzania. And among other things, he can eat with a knife and a fork. He's a bit of a celebrity with some movie and TV appearances under his belt, as well, by the way.

Cheering a sea turtle set free. The 150-pound loggerhead was taken to the water's edge in Jekyll Island, Georgia to finally begin life in the wild. Dylan (ph), the turtle -- Scotty (ph), you might like that -- has been in captivity since hatching on the beach almost ten years ago. She's not expected to return to land until it's time to lay her own eggs. That could take about 20 years by the way. Handlers say the hardest part was teaching Dylan to feed herself. Loggerheads are classified as a threatened species by the way.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

A manhunt in the Midwest. The target, a possible serial killer.

LEMON: Auto angst. GM hangs on to its No. 1 spot, but just barely.

PHILLIPS: Guns on the train, on the road, in your office. Is the guy next to you packing heat?

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in New York.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon live here at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.