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Tennessee Church Shootings; Candidates Tighten Up Positions; Yosemite Wildfire

Aired July 27, 2008 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead this hour, a man walks into a Tennessee church, with a 12-gauge shotgun and opened fire. At least one person is dead.
A massive fire near Yosemite. You won't believe who is being blamed for starting it.

And 100 days from election day. Are the candidates getting closer with their positions? Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, and you are in the NEWSROOM.

A sanctuary turned into a crime scene. Breaking news out of east Tennessee today. One person is dead, several others critically wounded. Police have a suspect in custody, after a shooting spree at a Unitarian church in Knoxville. Local media reports that parishioners are reported to have tackled the gunman and held him until police arrived. It happened this morning. Children at the church were performing a play for the congregation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF STERLING OWEN, KNOXVILLE POLICE DEPT.: We've recovered all of the videotapes that we could, and that's part what have we're reviewing to see exactly what it does show. For those of you who had some experience in this you know oftentimes you believe that a video camera catches more than it actually does but we're going to review each and every one of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: A dozen parishioners suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene. The suspect is not believed to be a member of that church. We'll take you live to the scene in our next hour.

Police are reviewing new details about a chilling murder-suicide outside Denver. A 16-year-old girl says her father, Eddie Davidson, forced the family to help him escape from prison, then shot and killed her stepmother and step sister Thursday. The teen says she ducked as a bullet grazed her neck and ran zigzagging down the road while her father turned the gun on himself. Listen to the 911 call a police officer made.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

VOICE OF JAMES COOK, DENVER POLICE: Her dad, Eddie, the escaped convict, shot Amy, the mother. Then shot the three-year-old, killed both of them. She's telling me everybody is dead except for her.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The girl's infant half brother was not hurt. Davidson was known as the Spam king. He had seven more months on his sentence for tax evasion.

Ready, aim, fire? A huge blaze in central California is being blamed on a shooter taking target practice. It quickly spread across thousands of wooded acres that had not burned in years. More now from John Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bewildered residents near Yosemite National Park in Central California had to leave home fast this weekend.

LARRY POPKIN, HOME THREATENED BY FIRE: Always in the back of your head, you know there's going to be a fire but you just kind of don't believe it's going to happen to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's totally devastating. From our driveway, could you look right across the ridge on the other side of the road and you could see it coming.

LAWRENCE: The fire dubbed the telegraph fire, has consumed thousands of acres since it began Friday. Making things difficult for crews? The terrain is steep and the flames are burning dry timber that hasn't burned in a century. Authorities believe the fire was caused by someone target shooting in the area.

SARAH GIBSON, CALIF. DEPT. OF FORESTRY: The heat, the low humidity, I can understand how that would happen, but it is not common.

LAWRENCE: Although mandatory evacuations have only been put into place for homes in the most immediate vicinity of the fire, officials fear more residents in further out areas may have to leave if the situation gets worse. John Lawrence, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, let's find out what the weather situation is as they continue to try to fight that blaze and control the conditions there. Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center. Jacqui, what do you have?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Fredricka, conditions are going to be kind of status quo we think for the upcoming days. But one of the keys in fighting the fires and the reason why some of these burns so out of control isn't always the weather. Sometimes it has to do with the conditions on the ground, and by that, I mean, what we just heard in that report there is that this area hasn't burned in years and years and years, so there is a lot of fuel there to just allow this thing to take off, as they're still dealing with moderate drought conditions. Now, weather-wise it's very hot there today. We're talking about middle 90s for temperatures. The wind's a little bit on the breezy side. If you're not familiar with this area, I put it on google earth and I also put on top of that all of the hot spots that are being detected by satellite, and that's all those little fire icons that you see there. So here's the whole National Park area, and this is the hot spot that's being detected there, just to the west of there, zero percent contained is what I'm hearing now. Winds are westerly around 15 miles per hour today. We think those winds will become a little bit more southwesterly, as we head into tomorrow.

Now, we also have some other very serious conditions happening across parts of the southwest. We've been talking about Dolly now, for days and days and days. The flooding situation becoming very extreme at this time, and Ruidoso in New Mexico, our i-reporter, shot some incredible pictures that we want to show you now. This is Philip Genest from Ruidoso. He said all of the yards around his house and all of his neighbors are completely flooded, just solid water and its rushing water. He said he was awakened this morning to police knocking on all their doors around 6:00 a.m., warning of possible evacuations. He says the (Badido) dam may also be in jeopardy at this time.

CNN has been able to confirm that about 300 people have been evacuated from their homes and campgrounds. More than six inches of rain has fallen here in the past couple of days from the remnants of Dolly. So we're going to continue to see this rain across parts of the southwest. Thanks to Phillip for sending in those incredible pictures and we're also affording some pictures from our affiliates and they can see some new ones right there with the trees and the rain coming down.

Many roads and bridges are also reportedly closed in those areas and Fredricka, you know, speaking of fires, if you've never been to New Mexico, and Ruidoso may sound a little familiar to you, remember several years ago there was an incredible fire that just scorched acres and acres in this area as well. So it's been a rough couple of years for Ruidoso.

WHITFIELD: Yes and nobody wants to see a repeat of that.

JERAS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Jacqui. We'll check in with you again soon.

All right. Well, Australian airline Qantas has been ordered to make urgent inspections of the oxygen bottles on all its jumbo jets. Why? Because they believe one of the cylinders could have exploded midair and blown a hole in the side of the Qantas plane. You remember seeing that as it happened. When the 747 made an emergency landing Friday in Manila, an oxygen bottle was missing from the cargo area exposed by that hole.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NEVILLE BLYTH, AUSTRALIA TRANSPORT & SAFETY BUREAU: There's a number of cylinders in that location. There is one cylinder which is not present. It is not accounted for, in that area, in the area associated with this issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And after a loud bang, the flight lost cabin pressure and plunged a terrifying 19,000 feet, almost 350 people on board, well they were all OK. There were no injuries, but many of them very frightened.

And off the plane and back on the campaign trail, Senator Barack Obama stops in for the last leg of the Unity Conference in Chicago. His remarks on troop withdrawal from Iraq, and -

A deadly weekend in the water. Strong ocean currents blamed for several drownings off New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This breaking story out of Turkey we want to report to you. Two explosions have rocked a suburban community there, just outside of Istanbul. You're looking at new images that are coming in. Clearly many people have been injured. We don't have the exact numbers, it's taking place just within the last 30 minutes or so. On the phone with us now is a journalist working in Istanbul, Andrew Finkel. Andrew, what do you know about what happened and why, and how many people involved?

VOICE OF ANDREW FINKEL, JOURNALIST: Well, as you said, this is a fairly working class neighborhood of Istanbul and earlier this evening there were two explosions. We know that where we think that about eight people have died in these explosions and that many more were injured, maybe even up to 30. Now, of course, everyone wants to know why these things happen. There were some earlier suggestions it was a gas explosion so we're beginning to think that maybe it was deliberate, these may have been two bombs.

WHITFIELD: And did these explosions take place outside, because we're looking at the videotape of seemingly everyone out on the sidewalk, we're also seeing some images, where it looks like people are emerging from a building. So, any way of knowing where the explosions took place inside or outside?

FINKEL: Well, it's a balmy summer evening. A lot of people are on the street. A lot of people promenading. We believe one of the explosions was set off in a telephone booth, and then there were eyewitnesses to that account, and then apparently there was a much larger explosion after that. So the first explosion may have been to create a sense of panic to draw people in and the second if it indeed was a bomb would have been far more deadly.

WHITFIELD: And you mentioned, this is a working class suburban area but we're also looking at a location that is mostly commercial. It is a place where people like to go in the evenings, say for restaurants, et cetera, or there are also apartment-type living above some of these businesses in the pictures that we're seeing?

FINKEL: Well, this is all part of the big sprawling city of Istanbul and there are sort of residential neighborhoods off the main shopping streets so this happened on a pretty close shopping street but of course this isn't the sort of where any tourists would go. It's really for local people, some are on the way to the airport from the historical city center of Istanbul. It was a Sunday evening, the sort of evening where people would be out walking around, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Andrew Finkel, thanks so you for your reporting from Istanbul. Of course, We'll keep you posted for those of you viewers who are watching and just tuning in to see what is happening there in Istanbul. Two explosions taking place in what Andrew is describing as kind of a working class neighborhood, a suburban area of Istanbul. And those are the new images that are coming in. You can see the injured, we don't know how many as of yet. Thanks so much, Andrew.

Meantime, here stateside, just 100 days until election day, and the candidates are not wasting a minute of time. Fresh off his week-long overseas trip, Barack Obama returned to center stage literally. He spoke at the Unity Conference in Chicago, for minority journalists. His first speech since he got back to the U.S. last night. Senator Obama talked about his support of a phased troop withdrawal from Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Obviously, General Petraeus wants as much flexibility as possible and as I said during my trip if I were in his shoes I'd want as much flexibility as well. But when you've got the Prime Minister of Iraq, the people of Iraq saying they're ready to take more responsibility, when we're seeing more Iraqi forces take the lead in actions, we need to take advantage of that opportunity, particularly because we've got to deal with Afghanistan and we can't keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq at a time when we've got enormous pressing needs here in the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, declining the invitation into the Unity Journalist Conference republican presidential candidate John McCain. Joining us right now to weigh in on that and all things political, our senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Good to see you.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's stick with the Unity Conference. Senator Obama making an appearance, Senator McCain declining the invitation. Was this a missed opportunity for him, for McCain?

SCHNEIDER: I think it was. We don't know exactly the reason why he declined the invitation but I think he would have gained points for showing up and answering their questions. The audience, audience of minority journalists and some media executives. They were pretty clearly sympathetic to Obama but they are journalists and they are professionals and a number of them asked questions and they asked some pretty tough questions of Senator Obama.

WHITFIELD: And in part not only asking him about the troop withdrawal as we saw in that sound bite but also asking him about whether the U.S. should apologize for the atrocities and the history in the treatment of native Americans, and you know, he tried to handle that as such by saying, I don't necessarily think we should be apologizing but instead look forward and make sure there are programs to help support groups that have been treated unjustly. Did he score any points or did he say anything new as it were, on any of his policies?

SCHNEIDER: Well, I thought he made some good points on the issue of affirmative action, where Senator McCain, I think, just this weekend, endorsed a couple of ballot initiatives in Colorado, and I think his own state of Arizona, which were, are intended really to end affirmative action programs and he endorsed the particular view of affirmative action. He said that he thinks it's important to take race into consideration, but he said it cannot be the only consideration in college admissions and in hiring. He talked about affirmative action, also being important to use for people with disadvantaged backgrounds no matter what their race, poor whites, people of disadvantaged class backgrounds. He defended his view of affirmative action, not quotas or preferential treatment he said but outreach, and he drew a clear line when he said he opposed those initiatives because he they would be divisive. That's what their intention was, he thought.

WHITFIELD: You know what's been interesting, too, each side is kind of accusing each side, Obama and McCain accusing one another of kind of siding with the other. Are we indeed seeing that? Are you in agreement with those accusations?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the allegation I think is that this convergence in the campaign, and that is pretty clear on a number of issues. You know, Barack Obama now acknowledges he said last month - rather on July 15th our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence so the republicans are trying to say to him, so why don't you say your opposition to the troop buildup back in January '07 was a mistake? He won't say that but now you've got both he and McCain saying the level of violence is clearly down. There is definite progress being made in Iraq, and now you have McCain and Bush and the government of Iraq moving closer to the idea of a timetable.

The Bush administration calls it aspirational time horizons, Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq has said that he thinks they're a good idea, and even McCain told our Wolf Blitzer in an interview just this past week, "I think it's a pretty good timetable" but then he added quickly it has to be based on conditions on the ground so there's a lot of convergence and at one point in particular that the crisis now is in Afghanistan. The United States has to put more troops there and deal with that urgent situation.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder too if it's just naturally because these two have been at it for so long this campaign has gone on for so long, even though we only have 100 days left maybe there's just naturally some rubbing off from one another to the other. SCHNEIDER: I think the facts on the ground are driving this convergence, that it's pretty clear that progress is being made and the violence is diminishing in Iraq, though there can still be a debate over why, and it's pretty clear that the situation in Afghanistan is rapidly worsening and it's pretty clear that the United States is winding down, no matter who is sponsoring the policy it's winding down its commitment in Iraq.

WHITFIELD: All right, Bill Schneider, thanks so much. Always good to see you, on Sunday.

All right. Let's talk a little bit further coming up about how exactly Senator Obama was received at the Unity conference, the conference of multicultural setting of journalists. We'll talk to some of the journalists there, their reaction, straight ahead.

And this amazing feat. You see this green beret right here? A pretty extraordinary story, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: More now on the unthinkable happening at a church in Tennessee today. A shooting takes place, someone simply walks into the sanctuary and opens fire, and many people are hit. Anthony Welsch of WBIR is joining us now from Knoxville. What is the latest?

ANTHONY WELSCH, WBIR, REPORTER: Thank you, Fredricka. We're here at the Tennessee Value Unitarian Universalist Church. It's about a mile west of the University of Tennessee campus. Around 10:00 this morning, somebody walked in with a 12-gauge and opened fire in the sanctuary. In all he shot eight people, one of them has since died. That was 60-year-old Greg McKendry. He was the treasurer here with the church. At this point, Knoxville police say they don't have a motive in the case. They are right now interviewing the suspect with the gun. We don't have his identity. We are told by police departments spoke people we should have his name and more about him, including his criminal history, tonight.

WHITFIELD: And so among the injured, mostly adults, I understand, this shooting took place just in the middle of the children's play, among the injured, who are they?

WELSCH: That's right, we don't know much about the seven who are still injured. Two of them have been released. As for the remaining five, they are here at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. We haven't gotten a condition update or names for any of those people at this point. We do know that like I said two were released and another person was injured, not hit by bullets but rather had a sprained ankle, sprained knee and has been released as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Anthony Welsch, WBIR, joining us from Knoxville, Tennessee. Thanks so much for that update. Appreciate it.

WELSCH: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Meantime back to the campaign trail and Barack Obama taking his presidential campaign to Chicago today. He spoke to minority journalists at the Unity convention and took part in a forum hosted by our Suzanne Malveaux. We wanted to find out what the delegates seemed to think, those who are joining the convention, joining us from Chicago is Brian Bull. He is a member of the Native American Journalist Association and he got to ask Senator Obama a question directly. Good to see you, Brian.

BRIAN BULL, NATIVE AMERICAN JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION: Thanks for having me on, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, I heard your question. You asked about reparations to Native Americans just as Australians offered to aborigines. Were you happy with Senator Obama's reply?

BULL: I think many tribal leaders are hopeful at Senator Obama's response. He did say essentially that he would consult with tribal leaders as a way to find out what is the best way to go about a formal apology made to the native people who suffered over the last 500 years, and I think for many tribal leaders they like that response and it ensures that even though it's not an immediate commitment, that it is leaving a door wide open so that they may consult with him in the near future. I presume during his administration, if he is elected president, to discuss just how they can kind of heal the wounds from the past 500 years and how native people have been hit up with wars, relocation, reservations, the list goes on and on, but I think many of the native people who were there today were very enthusiastic and assured by Senator Obama's response.

WHITFIELD: And so, you know, as a group of journalists, too, and being among them, did you find it strange or uncomfortable or anything to see that there were many who would applaud or express their dislike about what was being said by the presidential candidate, when you know, by virtue, by nature, the journalists should be unbiased?

BULL: Exactly. In fact, in some literature that was distributed through I think some of the Unity websites and also just before the formal event, some of the Unity organizers simply said remember that you are journalists first. Please put on a respectful air, and obey the journalistic forum. There were a number of people though in the crowd who plainly wore Obama tee shirts. There were people who stood up and gave him a standing ovation. A woman behind me was doing this very loud cry, kind of going "woo, woo, woo, woo, woo." I can't even replicate it. But it was a demonstration of support and enthusiasm. But a few years back during the 2004 Unity, there were many eyebrows raised when some people booed President Bush and also gave John Kerry a standing ovation.

WHITFIELD: Right and in fact, that's exactly where I was going because I have attended many Unity conferences as well and by tradition and historically, a number of candidates, sitting president has made their presence know there. They have spoken and certainly there had been times when there are journalist who kind of forget that they are journalist and they will show their bias with some of the candidates and/or sitting president, and I was wondering in this case whether there were some mantra or anything that came out as a result of that? BULL: It leaked out in some spots, yes, but I think, compared to the event four years ago I think people were a little more reserved, and appropriately so, for this event.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brian Bull, thanks so much, of the Native American Journalist Association, we appreciate your time. Hope you enjoyed Unity.

BULL: I did, thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: OK.

All right. In about ten minutes we'll find out what another journalist seemed to think about Senator Obama's appearance at the convention today. John Sardar is the vice president of the Asian- American Journalist Association.

All right. Summer fun, well, unfortunately, it turned very tragic. Strong rip currents claimed several swimmers off Long Island, New York. A 10-year-old girl is still missing.

And Senator Obama speaking to thousands of journalists of color, we look more into depth at his visit, and what it means for his campaign.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here's what's happening right now. Horror this morning at a church in Knoxville, Tennessee. A man bursts into the church during a play being staged by children and then opened fire with a shot gun. An adult church member is dead and eight other adults have been wounded. Members apprehended the suspect and apparently he was said to be a stranger.

A fast-burning fire threatens hundreds of homes near Yosemite National Park in California. Flames up to 100 feet high have been reported.

Dangerous ocean currents make for a deadly weekend off Long Island, New York. Several swimmers have drowned. Several others are still missing and one of them is a 10-year-old girl. CNN's Jim Acosta joins us live now from New York with the very latest. Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka it's something we see on local beaches every summer here in the New York area, inexperienced swimmers who are caught by strong rip currents and swept out to sea. The Coast Guard is still searching for a 10-year-old girl who apparently drowned at the beach at Coney Island yesterday. So far four people have died and four people have gone missing, including that little girl, over the last ten days. A few beach goers at Coney Island say they tried to alert life guards after seeing the girl go under.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WANDA GONZALES, WITNESS: They got one child out, but there was three life guards, and my sister yelled at them like seven times before they even like reacted, first of all, and then when they did react, they just took out the little boy and then the little girl was just like, her hand, and she was gone. She was gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And anybody who goes to the beach knows or should know about the dangers of rip currents. They are strong currents of water flowing away from the beach and out to sea. Every year life guards warn swimmers if they are caught in the rip current don't fight it, swim with it until you can break free and start making your way back to the beach. Rip currents kill roughly 100 people every year on the nation's beaches and authorities say while these drownings aren't that unusual, they just haven't seen this many clustered together in a long time.

WHITFIELD: Or other bit of advice I've heard from a lot of rescuers when it comes down to these rip currents is swimming diagonally from the current, you can try and get yourself out of it.

ACOSTA: That's right.

WHITFIELD: In the meantime, are we talking about any beaches being closed as a result?

ACOSTA: No, not at this point and much of the danger according to the National Weather Service is over. Those dangerous rip currents we were seeing over the last several days appear to have subsided and one good thing that may be helping efforts out there, at least in terms of keeping people out of the water is the weather. The weather is not so good here in New York. That may hamper efforts, in the meantime, for that little girl, but yes, that is right. Life guards have been warning people over the last several days to be careful about these waters. They are dangerous.

WHITFIELD: Terribly sad. Thanks so much, Jim Acosta reporting from New York thanks so much. Rip currents, rip tides certainly something we, I don't know, it's not new. A lot of us have heard all about this, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You're familiar with it as well but you know what is this a seasonal thing?

Well, you know, people are at the beach in the summertime. You have rip currents all year round but if you don't go into the water, it's not a problem, right? If you remember, we just talked about this a couple of weeks ago with Bertha; we had a number of fatalities and quite a few rescues as well on the Florida beaches as a result of rip currents. The rip current, not riptides, because tide indicates a gravitational pulls between the earth and the moon. Rip currents, what are they?

First of all, can you spot them? Look at this picture I got from the NOAA Website. This is the area that is a rip current. The beaches over here in this area. What happens is that the water, the wind pushes the water from the ocean up towards the beach areas, OK, and then what happens is that it has to go somewhere, right? It pushes inward and breaks back away from the beach and it breaks through for example a sandbar, and when it does that, it can create this very fast, fast current, we call a rip current and even Olympic swimmers have a tough time getting out of these things, so sometimes you can see them but more often than not, there are red flags flying, mean don't get in the water, and if you do get caught in one of these things, Fredricka was talking which way do you swim?

Swim parallel to the beach, because the rip current pulls you out here, so if you start swimming with the beach, it's going to pull you out of that fast channel of water and help get you to a safer place. Now, we just heard Jim talking about some of the showers and thunderstorms keeping people away from the beaches a little more in New York City today, but unfortunately, we had a couple of fatalities and quite a few people injured by lightning so apparently they were still out there.

Look at all the thunderstorms here up and down the eastern seaboard, all those yellow boxes are severe thunderstorm watches, meaning large hail, and damaging winds are likely occurrences with these storms. The orange boxes you see east of Manchester down through Nashua, east of Springfield down towards Hartford those are severe thunderstorm warnings. Look at the live lightning strikes. This say big threat ongoing through the afternoon and into the evening hours as well. New York City you're mostly seeing some light rain showers so starting to wind down a little bit here but the rain came down as heavy as two inches per hour on Long Island so there's been a lot of flash flooding. Keep that in mind if you're out traveling in the upcoming hours here as well and you head down a little closer into Baltimore and D.C., we've had a lot of trouble west of Baltimore, and of course, when you put all these things and factors in big cities you're going to have trouble in the airwaves, a ground stop.

Meaning nobody's taking off to get to Boston until 5:00. Atlanta, delays, two hours and 45 minutes. That's departure delays, trying to get out of the ATL. You have increasing delays in Charlotte. Check out La Guardia, over three hours, and over five hours now at JFK and you know it's Sunday, Fredricka, and so this is going to be impacting that carryover as we get into the business travelers tomorrow as well, unfortunately.

WHITFIELD: It is the bane of existence for those traveling on Sunday; it's not always as smooth between New York and anywhere else. I'm feeling for you people. All right, Jacqui, thanks so much.

JERAS: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Well Barack Obama, well he spoke to minority journalists today at the Unity Convention in Chicago. We talked a little bit about it 15 minutes now and now going to we're going to talk more about it 15 minutes ago and now we are going to talk some more about it. Because John Sardar was there as well, and he is vice president of the Asian American Journalist Association and he joins us live from Chicago so John, what did you hear, what did you like? What did you not like? What were your impressions?

JOHN SARDAR, ASIAN AMERICAN JOURNALISTS ASSN: Well, first I'm just glad Barack Obama came. There was some question as to whether he was going to make it or not, given his trip around the world, so to speak, and I was disappointed that John McCain was not able to make it. I think both candidates had a unique opportunity to talk to not just an audience of color, but journalists from TV stations and newspapers all around the country to try and spread their message. I'm glad Senator Obama came. I'm glad that members of our organization had the chance to put some very direct questions to him. I'm friends with Brian whom you just had on the show a minute ago.

I remember when he asked about the Native Americans, are they owed an apology, you heard this woo, in the crowd. I'm glad he came and glad he tackled the questions and the issues that were important not just to Americans as a whole but to the journalists of color that we have in the audience.

WHITFIELD: Did you feel like there was some real clarity on certain issues that a lot of journalists there really kind of wanted solidified?

SARDAR: Well, that's a good question. A lot of times when we hear major presidential candidates talk, they're talking to a general nationwide audience and so they talked about the issues that affect everyone, whether it's the foreclosures or the economy or the economy or things like that. We had the opportunity to ask specific questions and I think we got some specific answers. Were they earth-shattering or news-making, I don't think so. Although Senator Obama did talk about John McCain's flip-flop, so to speak, on affirmative action, but it was good that he came and was able, to as I said, take some of our questions.

WHITFIELD: And tell me about your observations of the room clearly a full house. We look at the videotape and see how many people turned out and filled the room. Usually on Sunday at the end of unity when a lot of folks begin to leave and leave pretty early but it seems a lot of folks stuck around but I also saw a number of kids in the audience, so not everybody in attendance in this room was a journalist, correct?

SARDAR: Well, not everybody, and I think a lot of the applause that we heard and there wasn't much of it but the applause we did get was probably from some of the partisans in the audience and of course our journalists, they're parents and they have kids and they were able to bring some of their kids there, although there weren't many in the crowd but it was a sizeable crowd, I guess at least a couple thousand and there could have been more. It was kind of a last-second scheduling problem, a lot of people already had their flights set to go and I think if we'd known ahead of time that he would be coming to speak to us on Sunday morning it would have been an even bigger crowd.

But I heard you asking about the applause and standing ovations and wanted to tackle that question. First I don't think what we saw today was anything untoward. When he came in, he did get, of course, applause, as you would when any speaker comes to talk to you but this was certainly not a campaign rally and I don't think anybody there treated it as such except for the few Obama partisans who managed to come in. Did he get a standing ovation at the end? Of course he did and I don't think that's terribly significant. If John McCain had come, John McCain served our country honorably in the military, and he was a prisoner of war, he served in the Senate for many years and agrees or disagrees with him; he's a good and honorable man. I would have been probably as many of the other journalists just as happy to stand and applaud for him, the next president with a 50/50 chance for becoming the president of the United States as we did for Senator Obama.

WHITFIELD: Surely out of respect.

SARDAR: They're just presidential candidates. But you know when the president comes into the room everybody stands up and applauds and this was the same thing. I will tell you one thing this was a CNN broadcast and I hear it's going to be rebroadcast later today. During the commercial break Senator Obama sat there with Suzanne Malveaux for two or three minutes and you couldn't hear a pin drop. And I imagine that is the last time that Senator Obama is going to be

WHITFIELD: You mentioned you were disappointed that John McCain wasn't there. Were there any rumblings around the room of other people being rather disappointed that he declined the invitation, that's the only inclination that we or anybody has been able to receive?

SARDAR: To correct the record a little bit of course we were disappointed. Four years ago we heard from Senator Kerry as well as President Bush and I think everybody just fully expected that both presidential candidates would be at unity this year. I don't know that Senator McCain ever confirmed that he was coming. I think since we got both of them four years ago, there was just the expectation that both would be there this time, and Senator McCain simply couldn't make it.

I think he blew a big opportunity. They set aside two hours on Thursday night, the big event of the convention and if Senator McCain had showed up, he would have had two hours all to himself to talk to this assembly of journalists who we report in stations and papers all over the country. It would have been big news for him to come, and whether he would have won votes from a crowd that I'm guessing in the ballot box might lean towards Obama, he certainly would have made a point by coming and respectfully addressing us all.

WHITFIELD: Jam Sardar, thanks so much of the Asian-American Journalist Association. Appreciate your time. Hope you enjoyed unity.

SARDAR: Thank you, so much for having me, any time.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic.

All the latest campaign news is at your fingertips so you just go to CNNPOLITICS.com and we also have analysis from the best political team on television. It's all there at CNNPOLITICS.com.

A green beret takes on a new challenge. He's relearning to be an executive officer without the use of his eyes.

And East Africa's hunger time bomb. Food desperately needed but scarce, expensive and often just too dangerous to get.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right, so he knows a dozen ways to kill you with his bare hands. As a green beret solder he has pushed his limits in combat and beyond. Now he's proving he's a different kind of leader. Rusty Dornin reports on Captain Ivan Castro, still in uniform, training his men, after losing his sight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN IVAN CASTRO, U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES: We're all dressed, one behind another.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Whether it's teaching a spin class to injured soldiers, skiing for the first time or running a marathon, green beret Captain Ivan Castro is always up for a challenge, all the more impressive because Castro was blinded nearly two years ago by a mortar explosion in Iraq.

CASTRO: At no point in time did it ever cross my mind that I was going to get out, you know, medically retire. I was going to fight to stay in, and show everybody that I was capable of being productive.

DORNIN: He's now the executive officer of his company, the only blind officer serving in the Special Forces, and while Castro can't lead a special ops mission, there's plenty of other work.

COL. FREDERICK DUMMAR, U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES: That doesn't mean as in the case of Ivan that one; he can't help train soldiers to do their missions. He has a tremendous amount of language capability and a tremendous amount of knowledge of Special Forces, tactics, so he can assist in the training.

DORNIN: A former drill sergeant, Castro helped supply troops in the field.

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Travis Air Force Base.

CASTRO: OK.

DORNIN: And watches out for family members here at home. It helped that Castro worked at Ft. Bragg eight years before he lost his sight. He already knew his way around. At home, as at work, Castro wants to be independent. Technology helps, even to pick out his clothes.

CASTRO: Red, blue, with gray sides.

DORNIN: His wife, Evelyn, says she was surprised the army encouraged Castro to remain on active duty. I did not think they would actually go all the way and allow him.

EVELYN CASTRO, WIFE: To continue to show his leadership skills. I didn't think they would have that kind of tech but I was proven wrong.

I. CASTRO: The minute I walk out this door I put on the head gear and I put the cane in my hand and walking down the sidewalk, people just stop and stare, so every day I'm proving myself.

DORNIN: Rusty Dornin, CNN, Ft. Bragg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And then a final salute to a long missing soldier killed in Iraq. Hundreds of family, friends, even strangers attended the funeral for Alex Jiminez of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Among the mourners Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, staff Sergeant Jimenez's body was found more than a year he and two other troops were ambushed south of Baghdad. Fellow soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division escorted the sergeant's casket to the same church where he had his first communion.

Empty cupboards due to drought, war, and bad guys.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): I know that pirates sound like something out of storybooks but they're very real.

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WHITFIELD: The fight to save 14 million in East Africa from famine, or worse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Floods described as the worst in the century killed 13 in the Ukraine and five in Romania. Thousands of homes are flooded and hundreds of towns are without power after heavy rains. More storms are forecast with water levels expected to rise even higher.

And Greek authorities say they finally have a handle on a wildfire on the Picturesque Island of Rhodes. Thousand of acres of course have burned in the blaze which has raged on for nearly a week now. A 61- year-old man has been convicted of accidentally starting the fire. He's appealing his four-year sentence.

An international aid group calls it a catastrophe in the making, droughts, conflicts and poverty in the horn of Africa that have left millions hungry. Famine has ravaged East Africa before but as CNN's David McKenzie reports, this year is different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's the mean season in Somalia. The hungry gather for the monthly food fashion. Donations are often stolen by gangs. In the horn of Africa, a deadly cocktail of excessive droughts, armed conflicts and rising food prices puts the most vulnerable out there. The U.N. estimates that more than 14 million people are in need of help.

MARK BOWDEN, U.N. HUMANTARAN COORDINATOR, SOMALIA: It's terrible because people literally are facing long-term destitution. The time bomb is ticking. We've got very little time to avert a very much more serious crises. MCKENZIE: And it affects the whole region. Here, dead livestock litter Eastern Ethiopia. Even if the rains come, many nomads will have lost their livestock and won't be able to recover. Ethiopia has the greatest number of people at risk and the youngest are affected the most. The government says 70,000 children are believed to be acutely malnourished in the droughted areas.

But a new threat faces a population already beset by hardship. Aid officials say droughts in previous years have been worse but now skyrocketing food prices hammer the poor. The price of wheat in Ethiopia has doubled in six months and in Somalia, a country that imports most of its food, rice has gone up by 350 percent. Aid is desperately needed, but dangerous to deliver. Twenty aid workers have already been killed in Somalia this year. And though they are navy patrols in the region, none have offered to escort the vital food aid ships to Somalia since the Dutch navy's escort mandate expired in late June.

JOSETTE SHEERAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WFP: We're appealing to countries that have the naval ability to help protect lives for the humanitarian food that needs to get in and these escorts can save lives because we cannot get the food in without them. We've already seen the power of this for the past six months, and I know that pirates sound like something out of storybooks but they're very real.

MCKENZIE: The desperation of the poor in the horn is also far from fiction, and without the world's assistance, a bad situation could get even worse.

David McKenzie, CNN, Nairobi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: As David reported, there are groups working to bring food and other aid to East Africans, who badly need it. So perhaps you'd like to help get involved. By visiting our "Impact Your World" Website. You'll find links to Oxam and other originations fighting phaman (ph). Go to CNN.com/impact.

A man goes into a church with a shot gun and then starts shooting. It happened as children are putting on a play.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Oh and prosthetics you thought they were just for people. Well this horse got a leg u p. A gift from a prosthetic maker in Arkansas who saw Lovy the horse on TV. Lovy was so neglected apparently that her leg got infected and basically had rotted off. Usually a horse in her condition is put down but the Humane Society felt she could be saved and would do well with a prosthetic and so she stepped out on her new limb for the first time Friday and walked without any problems. Getting a real kick at a new leg.

The next hour of THE NEWSROOM begins right now.

Barack Obama leaving a message for god, but does the whole world needs to hear it?

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(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Devastating, totally devastating. From our driveway could you look right across the ridge, on the other side of the road, and you could see it coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: No end in sight for that fire in Yosemite.

And on this day of rest, one person is dead, several others hurt, and many children are simply traumatized, after a man goes to a Tennessee church with a shot gun, and starts shooting.