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Brutal Market for the Unemployed; NBA Legend Doing Time in Tent City; How to Cure Your "Money Madness"
Aired March 07, 2009 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everyone. We're talking about nearly a trillion dollars later, and tonight still no assurance from President Barack Obama on when or if the economy will get moving. He is at Camp David. We are in Washington tonight.
Meantime, Charles Barkley calls the president his good friend and apologizes from behind prison gates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES BARKLEY, FORMER NBA STAR: Let's be realistic. I mean, I'm not going to kill myself. I think this is just a screw-up on my part and that's it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. That press conference didn't end there. Later, he talked about Rush Limbaugh, Bernie Madoff, Chris Brown, just to name a few of them. You'll hear the whole unusual exchange and we'll talk to the sheriff who called the press conference.
Plus, murder on the beach.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My mom freaked out about me going to Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did she say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She said that she was really worried about kidnappings and the drug lords.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We've heard about all of the violence going there. You see the video. Is this any place for American spring breakers? Tonight, a warning for college kids. We'll show you what's really going on south of the border. The news starts right now.
We start with the economy, everyone. Hello, I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
President Barack Obama is preaching hope and optimism today. Not much else he can do really when you look at this job market. Brutal is the only way to describe it accurately. Yesterday, we learned that the nation lost more than 650,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate is now 8.1 percent, the highest rate in a quarter century. And try to wrap your head around these figures. More than 12 million people are now unemployed and more than 4 million jobs have disappeared since November of 2007.
Well, President Barack Obama sat down with "The New York Times" to talk about the jobless number and the economy. He told them, quote, this is a quote, "How long it will take before recovery actually translates into stronger job markets and so forth is going to depend on the whole range of factors."
CNN's Elaine Quijano is at the White House to help break down all of these numbers for us.
But hearing that from the president, not too reassuring considering jobs right now and also those economic recovery and stimulus plans, Elaine?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right, Don. And you know, that is the challenge for President Obama. He, of course, is trying to, first and foremost, fix the economy. And as part of that, he's trying to restore people's confidence that the economy is going to bounce back.
But at the same time, as you noted, he's also seeing these jobless numbers, which continue to go up and up, so he's trying to sound realistic as well. So, in his weekly radio and internet address, President Obama tried to set just the right tone and tried to strike that delicate balance. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will continue to face difficult days in the months ahead. But I also believe that we will get through this, that if we act swiftly and boldly and responsibly, the United States of America will emerge stronger and more prosperous than it was before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, the president says that his administration is already taking action to create jobs, to try and spark lending and to slow down the number of home foreclosures. The president is trying to basically send the signal that his administration is committed to doing everything necessary in order to turn this economy around.
Now, could that mean a second economic stimulus package? Maybe. The Obama administration has really left the door open to that possibility. And, Don, with some economists predicting 10 percent unemployment just around the corner, this could really be a more urgent priority.
LEMON: Elaine, we appreciate it. Elaine Quijano in Washington. Thank you. And you know, after a while, the raw numbers in this recession can be a little overwhelming. So, let's take a quick look behind all of the statistics that we tell you about.
African-Americans are really being hit hard. They're the hardest hit, as a matter of fact. More than 13 percent of African-Americans are unemployed. Almost 11 percent of Hispanics are hurting as well. And more than 7 percent of whites. The rate for Asians, 6.9 percent.
If you want to look at it by age, we can break it down for you there. 8 percent of adult men are unemployed and 6.7 percent of adult women unemployed. More than 21.6 percent of teenagers are out of work. Not good news, not good numbers.
OK, so go with me on this one for a bit. Let's go behind bars now with an all-star.
That was Charles Barkley walking around Tent City there. He may be in jail but his mouth is certainly roaming free.
Former NBA star-turned-TV analyst Charles Barkley is serving a three-day sentence this weekend in Arizona for drunk driving. He is spending today and tonight in Maricopa County's infamous Tent City. Look at him there with prison -- next to the guys in the prison uniforms. You know, he spoke to reporters this afternoon and he said his jail sentence is completely his own doing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARKLEY: I don't think sheriff jail goes around, just saying, hey, let me pick people who are driving around DUI. I mean, you come here when you screw up. And I don't blame anybody for this situation but myself.
Let's be realistic. I am used to being famous. I accept the good with the bad. And this is just one of those things but like -- I know you guys get overly dramatic on things but let's be realistic. I mean, I'm not going to kill myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. So that was only the beginning. He covered a lot of topics in a very short time. It got a bit unusual with all of the name dropping.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARKLEY: Bernie Madoff is a crook. You guys aren't crooks. Martha Stewart went to jail. She came back out and she was Martha Stewart. President Obama is a good friend of mine and I would just like to think about him and, you know, I know Rush Limbaugh and a lot of jack (EXPLETIVE DELETED) for giving him a hard time right now. You can never hit a woman. That's not acceptable. I wish both of them the best.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Well, Barkley is spending all day today in custody, but he is allowed out of jail for 12 hours tomorrow on a work release. He gets out for good on Monday. In all, he'll spend about 36 hours behind bars.
The man who's sitting next to Charles Barkley at that news conference is Joe Arpaio. He's a longtime sheriff of Arizona's Maricopa County. He is known for his unique get-tough approaches to law enforcement. His Tent City, his chain gangs and -- there -- and making prisoners, all of them, wear pink. That includes underwear as well. He tells me there was nothing really unusual about Barkley meeting with reporters today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOICE OF SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA CO., ARIZONA: They go to the tents all the time. I have an open-door policy. Nothing to hide. He wanted to talk. He agreed to. He was very cooperative.
LEMON: OK.
ARPAIO: So why hide -- hide appearances by him and also by me from the media?
LEMON: Very gracious of you to come on, and we appreciate you coming on. There's a lot of interest in this story. So, make sure you stick around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
One thing again -- it seems everybody wears pink, including pink underwear. We wanted to know the same about Charles Barkley. Is he going to have to do it? We talk to the sheriff in just a few moments to answer more questions for us.
Meantime, some severe weather happening tonight including reports of tornadoes touching down in the Midwest. Jacqui Jeras joins us with the very latest.
Jacqui?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Don. Yes, we had at least six reports of tornadoes in central Kansas, including one that came very near the town of Hutchinson. Thankfully, no damage. It's incredible. And no injuries to report. You can see severe thunderstorm watches still in effect across that state and on into Missouri.
So the greatest threat here is going to be large hail but we can't rule out isolated tornadoes, even as we go into the night. Some really wicked storms moving into the western Kansas City suburbs. A lot of lightning, hail and also likely some real urban flooding potential here.
Now, the real flood threat tomorrow across the Great Lakes area and more severe storms, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Cincinnati will all be included in that severe weather threat. The best weather news of the weekend is the hot temperatures across the east and southeast. We had a plethora of record highs in that area today.
Don?
LEMON: Thank you very much, Jacqui.
Chris Brown and Rihanna. You heard the story. Word is that they are back together again. But after seeing the police report, many are wondering why? We'll talk about it.
Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He would stand over the top of me with a leather belt and he would sling over a hand and just hit me about 20 times or so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The lasting legacy of a lifetime of brutality. A mother and son finally learned what fueled a rage that destroyed their family and the role that a Florida reform school played in that.
Here's your chance to become part of the show. Get on television, on the news, right here on CNN. Go to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or iReport.com. We will get your responses on the air. We're back just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Now to the story that had everyone talking today. Charles Barkley doing time in jail this weekend for drunk driving. He's used to being the center of attention but today he had to share the cameras with Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARPAIO: Twelve years ago, I wrote my first book, "America's Toughest Sheriff," and other than Rush Limbaugh and McCain, guess who was nice enough to endorse the book but Charles Barkley. And he had some nice remarks here. Chuck, if you remember. I'm not a role model and all of that jazz.
BARKLEY: Yes, yes.
ARPAIO: I don't know if you still are. That's something you can explain.
BARKLEY: Sure.
ARPAIO: But he endorsed this book. And I'm going to give you a copy in case you didn't read it.
BARKLEY: I appreciate it. ARPAIO: I know you have nothing else to do for the next two to three days.
BARKLEY: I'm learning Spanish.
ARPAIO: You're learning Spanish?
BARKLEY: I'm learning Spanish.
ARPAIO: Talk to the inmates here.
BARKLEY: I don't know what they're saying yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Yes, he was hawking his book at a press conference and he did call him Chuck. Again, that is Sheriff Joe Arpaio. And he tells me, everyone in his jail gets treated equally and that in many ways, Chuck Barkley is just another inmate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He apologized. You said that he had paid his time. He was a gentleman. He took his medicine. All of that. Do you think by being kind of chummy with him, calling him Chuck a number of times in the press conference, that people might say, hey, this guy got off easy.
ARPAIO: I'm not the guy who sent him to the Tent. Talk to the judge. I just run the hotel. And everybody in those tents, 2,000, are convicted. I'm an equal opportunity incarcerator. I treat everybody the same, whether it's him or anybody else. I had Mike Tyson in the same tent that he's staying in.
LEMON: OK. We got -- when we were listening to this press conference, got a little bit political, pop culture came in, things that are happening in the news here. Let's see -- he talked about Chris Brown. He talked about Chris Brown and Rihanna, obviously. Talked about the president, called him a good friend. Talked about Bernie Madoff, Martha Stewart. Who else? Rush Limbaugh.
Are you surprised that Charles Barkley would bring this up at a press conference when it's really about him and whether or not he is paying for his crime?
ARPAIO: No. You know, Chuck's Chuck, I guess. Watch the television. He has a history of saying what he wants to. I have a history of saying what I want to, too. He's not the sheriff, though. He's on the other side of the fence right now, but he can bring up whatever he wants.
LEMON: OK. Hey, last question. So, you know, prisoners have to wear pink. Does that include pink underwear where you are?
ARPAIO: You mean in the tents? Everybody wears pink.
LEMON: Pink everything. Will Charles Barkley have to wear pink?
ARPAIO: No, because he's on a special program work release. So he gets out during the day to go to work. So we don't place our people under that program. It was ordered by the judge, by the way, in pink and stripes.
LEMON: Always outspoken, Joe Arpaio, top lawman in Arizona's Maricopa County. He is a sheriff there. Thank you.
ARPAIO: Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Chuck, really? All right.
Davereardon says -- this is your feedback now -- "Love Barkley but sick of the self-promoting sheriff. Have any of us -- have any of his stunts proven to decrease crime?"
Msmpost says, "Charles is a straight shooter. Manned up for his mistakes."
Shaggieshapiro says, "I liked it. Barkley made sense. Wesley Snipes, Martha Stewart, Sir Charles, in jail. Madoff is not."
Silverseagull, "I think Charles Barkley is a great guy. Everyone makes mistakes and he is the first one to admit it."
Exyyle says, "Barkley is an idiot. He's set for life and can't stay out of jail."
Lelesworld says, "No more Barkley news. I am so over his antics. CNN, you should be ashamed for even talking about this."
OK, we'll take our lumps. Thank you for your feedback. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, iReport.com. We'll get your responses on the air.
There is no doubt we're all hurting right now. Some more than others. But why are minorities bearing the brunt of this economic downturn? We're digging much deeper in that for you.
And being a school janitor never sounded so good. An Ohio principal is overwhelmed by the number of applicants he's received for just one job. Here's a hint -- not just a couple hundred, not just a couple hundred. Many more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. So, Edison Junior High School, near Canton, Ohio, has a job opening. One job opening. It's for a custodian -- a janitor. It pays $15 an hour, plus benefits. That's good. As of yesterday, the school district has received more than 500 job applicants. By Monday, it expects to have 800. I think over the weekend, it got like 700. I think that's the latest now.
Remember, this is for one job at one public school. The applicants are not entry level and many are highly qualified, highly experienced people in construction and manufacturing. Being a janitor is not exactly what they were aiming for but they're going for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRY MASON, BUSINESS MANAGER, PERRY LOCAL SCHOOLS: Plumbing, tile work, electrical, carpentry. People certainly in the, I guess, residential building industry who are looking for a good, stable jobs and good pay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: If that's not a sign of the times, I don't know what is. So, let's talk more about this downturn and these jobless numbers. It appears African-Americans and Latinos are feeling the brunt of this crisis. Why is that? With me tonight, the founder and president and CEO of the Minority Professional Network, C.J. Bland.
Thank you for joining us.
C.J. BLAND, CEO, MINORITY PROFESSIONAL NETWORK: Thanks for having me.
LEMON: It would seem that people who are, at least the minorities, the people who are sort of at the bottom -- on the bottom end of the economy, anyway on jobs, because of this combination, what have you in the country. It seems to make sense that in a recession they would suffer more -- yes, no?
BLAND: Without a doubt, without a doubt. African-American, Latinos, do not have the proportion in terms of representation...
LEMON: Right.
BLAND: ...in the job market, particularly at leadership levels.
LEMON: OK.
BLAND: So, many of them are coming in lower levels, often times where they don't have the capacity or the authority to determine who's fired, who's hired.
LEMON: And at this point, too, it's also the kinds of jobs that are being lost because the kinds of jobs are the manufacturing, lost 168,000 jobs in manufacturing. You tend to get more minorities maybe. Construction, 104,000 jobs. Same thing. Retail, 40,000 jobs. So, you sort of -- in industries that are traditionally held by minorities and men.
BLAND: Right.
LEMON: ...and men.
BLAND: And I definitely agree with that. We have to look on the terms or the types of jobs where some of the growth areas are in -- health care, for example, and also in terms of education, even green- type jobs. But the jobs that minorities typically held are impacted more and also because we are disproportionately represented in terms of some of the entry level, the lower levels of those particular sectors. Those are some of the reasons but those are not the only reasons.
LEMON: Not the only reasons. And I just want to go -- can we go back? Let's go back to the first one. Just to point out who's affected most in this economy. Adult men, 8.1 percent; adult women, 6.7 percent; whites, 7.3 percent; blacks, 13.4 percent; Hispanics, 10.9 percent; teenagers, 21 percent; and Asians, 6.9 percent.
Those are the folks who are affected most by the downturn. Everyone is really.
BLAND: Sure.
LEMON: Everyone. Because you see people who once had tons of money on Wall Street, all affected. But the gains were in education, health care and government jobs. There is some good news.
C.J., we appreciate it. Thank you, sir.
BLAND: Thank you for having me.
LEMON: Thanks for joining us here on CNN and giving us that information, going behind the numbers.
Do you suffer from money madness? In a way, we all do and we all need some therapy. Next, we have an expert. He will put us, you know, take us to the couch and he gets personal with us to tell us why we may be in the situation we're in and if we can recover from it. It could be from your youth. You may have been raised that way.
Plus this -- well, you see that? The violence and all that? This is the reason why many spring breakers are being told to stay away from Mexican beaches. Stay away from those beaches. We're talking or taking a closer look at what's going on south of the border. Of course, we are talking about it, too, just moments.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Do you consider your self-worth to be your net worth? Isn't that the American way? Money is important to all of us these days because a lot of people are suffering in it. But the love of it can still be the root of all evil. Kind of. The distorted ways we view money can poison our jobs, our relationships, even our love life. And our next guest says it all started when we were kids.
OK, Spencer Sherman, did it really start when we were kids? There's his book. It's called "The Cure for Money Madness." Got to be dealing with the money issues we all have. Did it really come from your -- does it really come from your childhood? The way you're raised by your parents or whoever raised you that -- how you are going to be affected by the economy?
SPENCER SHERMAN, AUTHOR, "THE CURE FOR MONEY MADNESS": It sure did. That's what's so amazing. When we were children, we got this distorted perceptions of money, watching our parents argue over money or watching our parents stressed over money...
LEMON: Keeping up with the Joneses.
SHERMAN: ...at very emotional times. And from that, we came up with this distorted, unproductive messages around money. Like you're nobody unless you own your own home. Or renting is throwing money down the drain.
LEMON: OK. Give me some of the common traits that adults carry over from childhood in regards to money. And one while you're talking I said, keeping up with the Joneses. It's a cliche, but it is true when it comes to American society.
SHERMAN: Yes. I mean, it's led us to overspend so much and that's what produced this crisis in a sense. Buying houses that we can't afford, getting involved with Madoff's hedge fund. It's all irrational. It's all money madness. And that's why I wrote the book, "The Cure for Money Madness," to cure us of this crazy behavior.
LEMON: Yes, but, you know what? Some people say you're blaming the victim here. Blame the big companies. Not the people who are out of work or the people who are struggling to pay their mortgage.
SHERMAN: Well, Don, there are some things we can't control. But there's so much that, of course, we have to take responsibility for and the good news is that once we start realizing that all of this came from these distorted perceptions when we were children. I mean, in some ways, we're not totally responsible. We were just kids. We couldn't understand money. It was totally confusing to us. It was totally abstract. And that's where we developed the biggest education around money.
LEMON: OK.
SHERMAN: It doesn't matter how much we learned as adults. What drives our behavior, even the Wall Street CEOs at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, their behavior was driven by what happened to them when they were 6, 7, 8 years old. They got a message like, you'll never -- you've got to hit a home run. And that led them to put all of their eggs in one basket, namely mortgages.
LEMON: Don't you think, though, I mean, we're sort -- I mean, it's sort of a generalization. You agree with that, right? You got to admit it. I mean, not everyone has the same -- not all of those guys have the same sense of money as each other. So I understand what you're saying but you say simply -- "ohm", meditate, learn other disciplines instead of chasing money.
All right, Spencer Sherman, we appreciate it.
SHERMAN: "The Cure for Money Madness." Thank you, Don. There's so much you can do.
LEMON: I know you got the name of the book in. Very good of you. Thank you, sir.
SHERMAN: Yes.
LEMON: A spring break scare for college students. We're going to talk about that. They are warned to avoid Mexico because of a raging drug war there. We're going to tell you what's going on. You'll hear from some of the spring breakers. You know what? They went anyway. Why would they do that?
Plus, Chris Brown and Rihanna. Word is they're back together again. But after seeing the police report, many of you are wondering -- what are they thinking?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. This is a little gruesome. Three headless bodies were discovered Saturday in Tijuana, Mexico including one U.S. citizen. Drug violence along the U.S. border, Mexican border, has grown so severe that local morgues are overflowing.
The 38-year-old American victim ran a pizza shop in the city, but Mexican authorities say they also found weapons and prescription drugs at the business. President Barack Obama is concerned the drug war will spread north. Today, he discussed the threat with one of his top military advisers, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He just returned from a fact-finding mission to Mexico City. One U.S. official tells CNN that President Barack Obama thinks the U.S. military could use its anti-terrorism experience against the drug cartels.
And a warning for college students on spring break. You better think twice before you choose Mexico as a destination. A lot of college students traditionally go to Mexico for their spring break, but think twice. CNN's Gary Tuchman has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Spring break on Mexico's northern Pacific coast.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Totally relaxing, what we needed after finals.
TUCHMAN: Where it feels like heaven, unless you make the drug traffickers angry, then it feels like hell. When you hear police sirens in Rosarito Beach, Mexico these days your heart jumps because in the past half year this small city of 100,000 has seen at least 30 people killed by the drug cartels, none of them tourists.
But this very popular spring break location has very few tourists right now. Despite beautiful weather, we saw more horses on the white beach than people. And at this outdoor bar, the only spring breakers came off a cruise ship and were only here for six hours.
You're all on a cruise now, but if they said that you could stay at a hotel here for a night or two, how many of you would want to do that? Raise your hands.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Knowing what we know now, probably not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the fact that the beach is completely empty.
TUCHMAN: What they know now is this. In this town in nearby cities like Ensenada and Tijuana, roughly 200 people have reportedly been murdered in the last six months and often beheaded as a grotesque message.
HEATHER BERGSTROM, MIDWESTERN UNIV. MEDICAL STUDENT: My mom freaked out about me going to Mexico.
TUCHMAN: What did she say?
BERGSTROM: She said that she was really worried about kidnappings and drug lords.
TUCHMAN: This man was arrested six weeks ago, not far from Rosarito charged with dissolving the remains of cartel victims in the barrels of acids.
Santiago Meza Lopez was asked how many people he had done this to. He declared 300. Alerts and warnings have been issued about traveling to Mexico, by the U.S. State department, the ATF, even colleges.
(on camera): The good people of Rosarito find themselves living along the lucrative drug trafficking route. Among the 30 people murdered over past few months, seven police officers all shot gangland style. It's not a job for the faint hearted.
The mayor of this city says about 75 cops in Rosarito were either fired last year for working with the cartels or killed. About 150 more have now been hired. They are being paid better salaries and given lie detector tests to help make sure they stay honest.
Officer Carina Valdez is 20 years old.
CARINA VALDEZ, POLICE OFFICER (through translator): The situation is bad, but there are people who need us.
TUCHMAN: Rosarito Mayor Hugo Torres believes his city has never had more honest and brave police officers.
HUGO TORRES, ROSARITO MEXICO MAYOR: In the beginning of January of this year, we have no killings at all.
TUCHMAN: And in the larger City of Tijuana, they were saying the same thing.
But the relative quiet is now over. At around the same time we were arriving in a police car, authorities announced they have made a horrifying discovery. Near this bullring, about 20 minutes north from the City of Tijuana, we're only 100 yards away from the California border. They got a call from two joggers. They said they saw something terrible right over here, right under that graffiti on the ground. Police arrived, they saw three bodies without heads, without hands and a note that said "Snitches."
(voice-over): The Tijuana newspaper had a picture of the scene on the front page with the headline "The Wave of Violence Returns." Eighteen miles away within the city limits of Rosarito, there still hasn't been a killing since the beginning of the year.
The Mayor thinks tourists should be comfortable coming back and he's hoping for bigger crowds next week when spring break starts to peak although he himself has to be accompanied by armed guards when he travels throughout the city.
(on camera): What stops somebody from driving by and shooting us while we're walking?
TORRES: Well, I don't know. I guess nobody can -- if somebody wants to kill you, they kill you, I know that for sure.
TUCHMAN: The Mayor says he no plans to step down because of fear. He's too busy trying to protect and promote his very empty city that so many are now too scared to visit.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Rosarito Beach, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, here is the question. Is it safe to visit Mexico? And really, how much does it spill over? Just because if you're not on the border, it can still come to your town.
We're going to talk to these guests about it. It can go much further. Spill over. They both have some unique insight.
Rodney Benson is a DEA special agent. He's in charge right here in Atlanta. Nick Valencia, you see there, is an assignment editor here at CNN. He just returned from Tijuana. I want to know why he was there. I'll talk to you about that in a minute. Now, when you work here and you know better, but we'll see.
So the problem is serious. You don't have to be a border town in order to feel the violence, to be part of what's happening in Mexico.
RODNEY BENSON, DEA SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: I mean, drug trafficking and violence go hand in hand, Don. And as we put the pressure on the traffickers here, locally, and across the United States, there is some violence.
We've had some drug-related kidnappings here in metro Atlanta, mainly people not paying their bills on time, and cartel leadership wanting that payment on time. LEMON: All right. So it's coming here. Could it come to your town? Why was Nick Valencia in Tijuana? What did he learn? We're going to talk to him about that in just a minute.
Stick around, both Rodney and Nick. We're going to continue our conversation in just a moment. But, first, this for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He would stand over the top of me with a leather belt, and he would swing the other hand and just hit me about 20 times or so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The lasting legacy of a lifetime of brutality. A mother and son finally learn what fueled a rage that destroyed their family and the role a Florida reform school apparently played in it. That for you after the break.
Plus, our conversation about Mexico, the drug cartel and violence. You don't want to miss it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We're going to talk more about Mexico now with the DEA agent here in Atlanta -- Rodney Benson, and also Nick Valencia, who is an assignment editor.
OK, my first question, I'm going to get to you. Don't think that I won't get to you.
If the president is talking about anti-terrorism measures in Mexico, clearly the scope of this problem is increasing day by day and with each act of violence that's happening there.
BENSON: Very, very serious. But President Calderon and his administration is going full speed ahead, Don, and making very positive strides as they deal with the drug cartels.
LEMON: Positive strides. That's what we are hearing. We hope it's the case, but it doesn't feel like that is playing out. And one reason that you went there.
You went -- a vacation, which turned into work. Your friend said you worked for a news organization, you need to get down here, Nick, and see what's happening.
(CROSSTALK)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: I have a friend that works for the Mexican government.
LEMON: Take us to the ground now.
I have a friend that works for the Mexican government. Last year he's told me, Nick, journalists aren't going to the right areas. Come down, I'll show you the real Tijuana. I went on vacation and ended up in the work, where I was taking notes on toilet paper, because, as you know, Mr. Benson, Mexico is the second most deadliest place for a journalist behind Iraq. It's a war zone. Tijuana is a war zone. I don't recommend anyone go down there right now.
LEMON: Obviously, you did not feel safe?
VALENCIA: Absolutely not.
LEMON: You said that -- what did you say? It smelled like the night sky. You said it smelled like burning -- some burning earth.
VALENCIA: And spoiled fish.
LEMON: And spoiled fish. And people were literally on edge when they hear sirens or some sort of activity
VALENCIA: Absolutely.
LEMON: They duck or run.
VALENCIA: It's as if they say, people in Tijuana say they are safe, but it's as if they are saying it out loud to hear it themselves. I get the sense that people don't really believe it.
LEMON: OK. So, obviously, we know there's a problem. How much -- how much does America bear responsibility for their problem when it comes to drugs going here and possibly weapons being used in Mexico for this violence?
BENSON: It's clearly, Don, a transnational problem. It involves both countries, but both countries are committed to working to solve it. You look at over the last five months, two of the most significant and complex enforcement operations were conducted with the United States and Mexican government.
Operation accelerator, targeting the Sinaloa cartel. Project reckoning, targeting the gulf cartel. Huge numbers of arrests and more importantly, look at last year. The highest number of extraditions by the Mexican government to the United States of -- of drug kingpins have arrived here in U.S. prisons.
LEMON: I'm glad you mentioned that. We really have to go. Nick, I have not even ten seconds. But the real talk on the ground is decriminalizing drugs --
VALENCIA: People are saying the only resolution to this is to decriminalize drugs. That it will give the cartels less than incentive to battle each other. And that's the only talk of resolution. You know, that opens up a whole different can of worms.
BENSON: Don --
LEMON: Quickly.
BENSON: Big mistake. You'd lose a generation.
LEMON: All right. Thank you, both. Nick, Rodney, we really appreciate it. This conversation is to be continued. Thank you both.
We're -- everybody is weighing in on this. You, guys.
Alicia says -- here's what Alicia says. AliciasGottic (ph), that's her name, "This increased violence in Mexico is just residual effects of the poor economy. Stay away from Mexico until the economy improves."
Seashell93 says, "Legalize it. Put it in the hands of pharmaceutical companies. Nothing to war over."
And RobertTenco says, "When will the United States end this failed experiment in prohibition? Are we looking to create another bunch of al capons?"
D.J.Ghost says, "Will it spread? Hasn't it always been here?"
TWJauthor says, "This only confirms the need for the U.S. to strengthen its border patrol."
Here's how you become a part of the show, and get your comments on television. Go to any one of those platforms you see right there next to my face in the red, and we'll get them on the air for you.
Also coming up tonight -- a family brutalized for years begins to understand the reason behind their rage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way that they used to beat them kids and what he used to do to me. He would make me lay face down on the bed and grab the end -- grab the end of the bed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: What allegedly happened at a Florida reform school years ago continues to destroy lives. We revisit Florida's White House in moments.
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LEMON: Chances are, your kids are not up this late watching this, but just in case and if you're a little squeamish, there is a warning here. Because we're going to talk about abuse, torture, even deaths. Those are all allegations leveled against a now shut down Florida reform school.
We have told you before about the investigation launched after former students came forward raising questions about the mass graves there. Now one family is trying to face a violent past that may point back to this school.
CNN's Ed Lavandera reports. And again we warn you, this story contains some strong images and some strong language.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH: I told the police that he was going to kill me.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the story of a family haunted by the tortured past of a husband and father.
ELIZABETH: He beat me and kicked me in the face.
CHRIS: He would stand over the top of me with a leather belt, and he would swing over hand and just hit me about 20 times or so.
LAVANDERA: The man's wife and son asked to remain anonymous, so we'll call them Elizabeth and Chris. Now 25 years after the man's death, they are learning what triggered those violent outbursts.
As a young boy, his family says, he had been viciously beaten at a now-defunct reform school for boys in Marianna, Florida. A school now under state investigation.
ELIZABETH: And he explains it. Nothing to me could excuse it. But it does help me to understand why he was that way.
CHRIS: I don't see how he would have done that to his child after it was done to him. And I have hated him for many years for it.
LAVANDERA: In recent months, dozens of former students at the Florida reform school have come forward to detail excruciating stories of abuse, and they've asked investigators to determine who, if anyone, is buried under these 31 unmarked crosses in the school grounds. The men are known as the White House boys, named after this abandoned building, where the students were allegedly beaten by school administrators.
ROGER KISER, ALLEGED VICTIM: We were their entertainment, and that is the God's truth. We were entertainment.
LAVANDERA: When Elizabeth started hearing these stories, it was an awakening she never expected.
ELIZABETH: We were the ripple-down effect of their abuse on my husband, his abuse on us.
LAVANDERA: Elizabeth says a lifetime of drinking killed him, cirrhosis of the liver. Chris read the stories of the White House boys and couldn't believe the words.
CHRIS: The way that they used to beat them kids is what he used to do to me. He would make me lay face down on the bed and grab the end of the -- end of the bed.
LAVANDERA (on camera): We have tried to confirm that Elizabeth's husband was a student at the Marianna, Florida reform school, but state officials said they will no longer confirm the identities of former students, even though they helped us with these requests on previous stories. And state juvenile justice official say they will not comment on any of these cases until the investigation is complete.
(voice-over): The details this family describes are similar to what other former students have told us, stories so brutal, Elizabeth and Chris weren't sure whether to believe what they thought could be the ramblings of an angry man. Chris recalls the stories his father told.
CHRIS: They made him line up outside of a fence and said that when they turned the lights on, to shoot whoever was at the fence, and when they would turn the lights on, there was some black kids trying to get out of the fence.
LAVANDERA: Chris says his father shot one of those kids in the face. Florida investigators are in the process of collecting these stories of the reform school's former students. Most are now in their 60s, but many of the school's former instructors have passed away.
ELIZABETH: Because of what they did to him, it warped him so bad, beat him down so bad, that he didn't know any other way of dealing with things.
LAVANDERA: It's not clear what will become of the White House boys investigation, but for Elizabeth and Chris, it's helped them understand a man who passed along a lifetime of pain.
Ed Lavandera, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: The words and the actions -- they were shocking. Chris Brown allegedly threatening to kill his girlfriend Rihanna. But now there are reports the two are back together. And many of you are wondering why? We will break down the police report straight ahead for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Singer Chris Brown has had his first of what could be many days in court. He answered to charges of battering his girlfriend, fellow musician, Rihanna. But story behind the story, the one that really has people talking is a couple's recent reconciliation. And Chris Brown couldn't be happier about it. Our Randi Kaye picks up the story from there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you understand that, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wearing a gray suit and showing little emotion, Chris Brown stood before a judge to hear his arraignment pushed back until April. The complaint against Brown charges the 19-year-old with assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and criminal threats. Both felonies in an attack against his 21-year-old girlfriend, the singer, Rihanna. The alleged attack happened the night before the Grammys, when the couple was riding in his Lamborghini. According to a detective's sworn statement, Brown became enraged after Rihanna read a text message on his cell phone from a woman he had a previous sexual relationship with.
The affidavit says Brown took his right hand and shoved her head against the passenger window. Punched her in the left eye and continued to punch her in the face. Causing her mouth to fill with blood and blood to splatter all over her clothing.
The affidavit says Brown then told her I'm going to beat the blank out of you when we get home. You wait and see. Now, I'm really going to kill you.
This photograph obtained from the gossip and entertainment Web site, TMZ, shows the victim's battered face.
Young, rich and immensely popular, the pair are known as the prince and princess of R&B.
TOURE, ACCESS HOLLYWOOD: Here's the boy who you could bring home to mom, you know. At least he seems so before all of this. She's become this pop R&B, sort of icon, definitely one of the top young female singers around. Chris and Rihanna together was like too good to be true. At first, it was like this has got to be a publicist dream to put these together.
KAYE: That clean-cut image landed Brown several endorsements, including one with Wrigley, but the company has since suspended him as a pitchman.
TOURE: Yes, that just murders your image. And for a guy who had this really clean-cut sort of image, this just a cloud like this over his head is just devastating.
KAYE (on camera): Devastating, but it hasn't divided the pair. And that's what is so stunning. Weeks after the attack, the two are reported to have reconciled. A source tells "People" magazine, while Chris is reflective and saddened about what happened, he is really happy to be with the woman he loves.
Back together, shocking to some, but not to everyone.
LISA BLOOM, HOST, "LISA BLOOM: OPEN COURT": I used to work in a battered woman's shelter, and 2 out of the 3 women ended up returning to their abusers. It's a very difficult sociological phenomenon that domestic violence survivors typically do go back.
KAYE: If convicted, Brown faces up to four years and eight months in prison.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: You know what, a lot of you are weighing in on this story and other stories. We're going to have your feedback. There it is over there, straight ahead.
Plus, we're going to talk about gang violence corrupting thousands of teenagers across the world. But one young man proves you can make a difference. We'll show you how.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Time now for the third CNN Hero of 2009, his name is Efren Penaflorida -- Penaflorida. He was bullied to join a gang in high school, but instead of caving in, he created an alternative for all teens.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EFREN PENAFLORIDA, CNN HERO NOMINEE: Gang members are a groomed in the slums as early as 9 years old. They're all victims of poverty. I'm Efren Penaflorida Jr. In high school gangs were very rampant. I saw the social discrimination and I was then -- I was bullied. I got afraid. So we thought of a group to actually divert teenagers to be productive so that's why we're bringing the classroom to the kids.
We operate the push cart every Saturday. We teach them language. Mathematics. And we also have our hygiene clinic.
RHANDOLF, 16 (through translator): My gang mates were the most influential thing in my life. I would probably be in jail right now or most likely a drug addict if I had not met Efren.
PENAFLORIDA: I always said to my volunteers that you are the change that you dream. Collectively, we are the change that this world needs to be.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: Tell us about your hero at cnn.com./heroes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: That's where you find it. Finally, your thoughts. Here's what Photogirl says, "I used to be a Chris Brown fan. Now I got rid of all his music, and I hope he stays in jail. Once an abuser, always an abuser."
We certainly appreciate your feedback. I'm Don Lemon. Don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now!
