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Search for Missing Yale Grad Student; Desecration for Profit; Two Shootings, One Officer

Aired September 13, 2009 - 19:00   ET

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


DON LEMON, CNN CENTER: Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. And welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM.

It's the top of the hour. We want to get started with the latest going on in New Haven, Connecticut, where police have found some disturbing clues in the search for a missing grad student not seen now for five days.

Today was supposed to be her wedding day.

Here's CNN's Susan Candiotti with the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than five days into the search for grad student Annie Le, authorities aren't saying much.

KIM MERTZ, FBI SPECIAL AGENT-IN-CHARGE: There's not an intent to be secret. We're focused on conducting an investigation.

CANDIOTTI: However, a law enforcement source close to the investigation says bloody clothes hidden in ceiling tiles were found in a Yale Medical Research building where Le was last seen.

MERTZ: All I will say is that items that could potentially be evidence have been seized. None have yet been associated with Annie Le.

CANDIOTTI: It's not known where in the building the items were discovered. The university says the lab where Le did experiments is in the basement. Investigators are testing the items to see whether the blood and anything else found is Le's.

The New Haven register reports the clothes are not what Le was seen wearing when security cameras captured her image Tuesday.

On Sunday federal agents also searched a garbage facility about 40 miles away from Yale. The FBI says that's where trash goes from the school's research building and they're following that trail. Investigators are also poring over every frame of video of people coming and going from that location.

Witnesses confirm seeing Le there on Tuesday. No one saw her leave.

MERTZ: We have conducted the review; we are actually using the experts of the states to do video enhancements to make sure we've not missed anything.

CANDIOTTI: Police found her purse, wallet and cell phone left behind in another office. Le's disappearance is rattling nerves on campus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone is sort of shocked by it. Everyone is in disbelief that something like this could happen.

But she was just a very, very cool person, very down to earth. You know, always willing to help someone out.

CANDIOTTI: Today was Le's wedding day. The family insists she had no intention of backing out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is no reason to believe that whatsoever and I believe that those who have talked with her friends have no reason to support that conclusion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: After interviewing family, friends, Yale professors, and others, the FBI says no one is being called a person of interest. We asked whether Le's fiance is being ruled out as a suspect, the FBI declined comment.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

LEMON: All right Susan, thank you very much.

I want to tell our viewers in just a few minutes the editor-in-chief of the university's daily newspaper, the student newspaper at Yale is going to join us. He's been uncovering some good information on this and tell us exactly what is going on there.

The FBI says America's most wanted bank robber has been captured in Missouri. A retired state trooper is being credited for helping put 37-year-old Chad Shatner (ph) behind bars after an allege a one-man crime spree. He tipped authorities after spotting Shatner at a hotel. He is suspected of pulling off at least ten bank heists in four states. Tonight he is being held in Calloway County Jail. He is to appear in court tomorrow morning in Jefferson City.

In Placerville, California attorneys for Phillip and Nancy Garrido will be in court tomorrow to request bail. The husband and wife have been jailed without bail for the alleged kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard 18 years ago. Both Garridos have pleaded not guilty to 29 counts, including kidnapping and rape.

Dugard who was just 11 when she disappeared has since been reunited with her family. She is now 29 years old and has two daughters believed to have been fathered by Phillip Garrido.

In Washington, time is running short in the push for a compromise on health care reform. Two key senators today said a House health care bill drafted by Democrats is all but dead. The potential deals continue to hinge on the so-called public option which Democrats and President Obama support. Republicans say the public option will lead to government-run health care.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC CANTOR, (R) MINORITY WHIP: So I think underlying the fear that we're seeing out across this country is the sense that somehow we're going to be replacing government decision-making for that of the individual and their doctor.

The president, I don't believe, went far enough to allay those fears, and I think all of us remain very, very cautious about how we're moving forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, the president's spokesman says the fears of a public option are overblown. Robert Gibbs tells CNN that any reform plan must lead to lower costs and greater choices for all Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: As the president said, he prefers the public option. However, he said, what's most important is choice in competition. We're willing to work with Congress to ensure that when the president signs that piece of legislation that somebody like my friend in Alabama who started this small business and have been a private insurance market that has dominated -- 89 percent of which is dominated by one insurance company -- that when he goes to buy insurance for his family and his small business that he has more than one option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Democrats in Congress have enough votes to pass a health care bill with no Republican support but they are reluctant to approve such a massive bill without at least some support from members of both parties.

South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson is also a hot topic in Washington and around the country. His "You lie" outburst during the president's health care speech has set off a political uproar.

Wilson called the White House and apologized but Democratic House leaders want a public apology on the floor of the house. The Congressman says he is finished saying he's sorry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOE WILSON (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: My whole life has been built around civility. As I heard what I believe was not accurate information and because I knew the issue, I knew that there had already been votes on providing for citizenship verification for the speech to indicate that this would be enforceable, it was not, and so I spoke out. I called immediately. I did apologize, but I believe one apology is sufficient.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Well, the reaction to Wilson's shout hasn't been totally negative. Here he is this morning in Washington autographing a photo of the incident. There are also photos of him that he signed on eBay.

Perhaps no two words in the history of U.S. Politics have been so lucrative since Congressman Joe Wilson yelled at President Barack Obama during his health care reform speech. His re-election campaign has raised $1 million. That means Wilson has caught up with his Democratic cal challenger Rob Miller who also raised $1 million in the wake of that outburst.

A quick programming reminder for you, a year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the start of the worldwide financial crisis, join CNN for a live coverage of President Obama's speech on financial reforms. That's tomorrow at noon Eastern right here on CNN.

NATO orders air strikes in western Afghanistan during an intense battle after an insurgent ambush killed at least two U.S. troops. The battle in the Farah province lasted for several hours yesterday. There are reports dozens of Taliban militants were killed, but this has want been confirmed. In an earlier ambush a NATO-led convoy was hit by a roadside bomb and then attacked by gunfire and rocket- propelled grenades.

Tonight on CNN, an AC 360 Special Report, Afghanistan elections, a Taliban resurgence and mounting American casualties. It's a critical time for the region and Anderson Cooper as well as Sanjay Gupta and others will take you inside Afghanistan's battle zone. That's at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

Our top story tonight: police find what may be bloody evidence in the case of a missing university student. We'll speak with the editor in chief of Yale's student newspaper.

And it's happened again. Cemetery owners accused of horrible mistreatment of the dead. Family members have filed a lawsuit and say the workers tried to keep it a secret.

Also, a police officer shoots and kills a man and his involvement in another fatal shooting just four days later. Why was he back on the job so quickly?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: You work for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: The biggest tea party to date. Where else but the nation's capital? They say it's not over yet. More to come.

Also we're taking your feedback on the all the social networking sites.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Let's bring in now the editor-in-chief of the University -- Yale University's "Daily News" student newspaper. His name is Thomas Kaplan, he joins us now by phone from New Haven. Thank you.

First off, I want to ask your reaction to the news of a nearby landfill being searched.

THOMAS KAPLAN, EDITOR-IN CHIEF, YALE DAILY NEWS: (AUDIO GAP) through the trash, through a dumpster at the building where Annie Le was last seen.

LEMON: Mr. Kaplan, can I get you to start over? I think we missed the first part of this. So I'll ask you again, what's your reaction to the landfill being searched?

KAPLAN: Well, from what we understand this is sort of standard operating procedure. The FBI looked through the trash at the building where Annie Le was last seen a few days ago. But what they say is they're just following the trash, looking through trash that may have already been taken from that building.

LEMON: You know, students, I guess they got this from students and friends that she actually wrote a piece describing how not to become a crime victim. What else can you tell us about that?

KAPLAN: She did. It's kind of a sad irony. In February she wrote a piece interviewing the chief of the Yale Police Department providing tips to students on what to do to stay safe.

We heard from one of her professors that she may have had some concerns about safety going to school in a city. She was kind of diminutive in stature and may have had some worries there.

LEMON: You know, down here in Georgia, we had the run-away bride a while back -- I'm sure you remember that -- she made up the whole thing about an abduction because she didn't want to get married. Police refuted that yesterday when it came to Annie Le's case saying they don't believe. They spoke to family members and friends and they don't that believe she did not want to get married.

KAPLAN: That's the thing. All of her friends and co-workers we've talked to have said she's been elated about this wedding. She's been planning it for a year. She would post updates on her Facebook page about picking out a dress and picking out the menu and things like that. It was really just no sign pointing to the fact that she would want to run away.

LEMON: As I understand, we had a reporter, a local reporter, on last night, television reporter, saying that the fear is palpable there, especially among women. Is that true?

KAPLAN: I don't think that's really the case. I mean, I think it's more just confusion. I mean, it's such a mystifying situation the fact that cameras captured Annie going into this building, you know, broad daylight, middle of a Tuesday, and then literally at this point just vanishing. I think people are just more perplexed as to what could possibly have happened. If it does turn out that foul play was involved, then, I mean, surely that will cause a lot of fear.

LEMON: Seeing her going into the building and not seeing her going out, I heard that there -- she may think she left because of a fire alarm that went off.

KAPLAN: That's what's kind of confusing about this. There was a false alarm that was triggered in the early afternoon on Tuesday, and it's unclear whether she might have left during the fire alarm and perhaps in the confusion and the hustle and bustle it was just too hard to pick her out on the cameras as everyone rushed out of the building.

LEMON: All right. Thank you. Thomas Kaplan from the student newspaper in Yale, we appreciate it.

Grave tampering, dumping remains, and double selling plots; these are just some of the horrible claims in a lawsuit against a Los Angeles cemetery. Remember those same claims in the Chicago area not that long ago?

CNN Special Investigations Unit's Abby Boudreau has a special report for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBY BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT (voice-over): Claims of secretly breaking and opening buried caskets, dumping remains, including human skulls, and selling burial plots without actually having the space, all to make more money. Those are just a few of the allegations made in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles.

This is the cemetery in question. Eden Memorial Park has been around for 55 years.

MICHAEL AVENATTI, ATTORNEY: We allege that Eden Memorial Park and its management have been, for the better part of 15 years, engaging in improper burial practices, including the desecration of graves and the improper disposal of human remains.

BOUDREAU: The lawsuit is filed against the owner, Service Corporation International, based in Houston. SCI is the country's largest owner of cemeteries and funeral homes with more than 2,000.

According to the lawsuit, groundskeepers were secretly instructed to break concrete interment vaults that contain caskets which were already buried, using backhoes. The lawsuit alleges human remains would often fall out of the broken caskets and those body parts were then either scattered or thrown away.

The reason they would break the concrete vault is to make more room for a new plot, according to the complaint, even though they had no more space available.

AVENATTI: We have uncovered evidence that the groundskeepers and others at Eden Memorial Park had been instructed to break off or break apart that concrete vault and in many times that exposes human remains.

BOUDREAU (on camera): So almost like chipping away at the vault so they could make room for a new plot.

AVENATTI: That's exactly correct, Abby. That's exactly what they've been doing for some time, according to the allegations in the complaint.

BOUDREAU: And do you know about how many victims, families we're talking about right now?

AVENATTI: We are still in the process of investigating the full extent of this. We have uncovered some evidence that suggests that it could be in excess of 500 decedents.

BOUDREAU (voice-over): Abby Boudreau, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: One year ago today the costliest natural disaster in Texas history hit the Lone Star Gulf Coast. We're talking, of course, about Hurricane Ike. The storm leveled much of Galveston Island and also did serious damage inland. Today on the anniversary of the storm residents there say they've made progress but still have a long way to go in restoring what was lost.

We wish them the very best with that. I'm sure Jacqui Jeras does.

Jacqui you have visited, you've spoken to folks, covered the story a lot.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. They're a very resilient people, and certainly very motivated to bring their city back and they've done a tremendous job in making that progress. Of course, there's still years probably to go. We have to spoke with the mayor about that.

They're all very hopeful and optimistic, and they're hoping that another storm is not going to head their way this season, and we are in the peak of hurricane season as we speak. September 10th is the climatological peak, and it's what we think an El Nino type of year, which means there's a lot of wind shear in the Atlantic, which helps to break down the storms and prevent them from developing.

And all we really have out here is that little burst of thunderstorm activity. And this is what's left of what was Fred, which was a hurricane at one point. That's it. Everything else is looking very, very quiet.

Well, back here at home we do have some heavy rain. Not a tropical system, but bringing in some really heavy moist downpours across much of the state of Texas.

I take a look at some of the pictures that we have. This is some of the Austin area from yesterday where anywhere between seven to 15 inches of rain has fallen. Many creeks have gone out of their banks. This is really a flash flood event so, much of this is receding as we speak.

The heavy rain today has been north of there in the Dallas-Fort Worth area where we've had some high water rescues. We've had many streets which have been covered with the water and even I-35 was shut down for a time as a result of that heavy rain.

We've also been seeing a lot of moisture in the lower Mississippi River Valley as well as the state of Florida; some heavy thunderstorms right now around the Fort Lauderdale area. There's a ground stop in effect at the airport here as a result of this.

Also thunderstorms causing delays in Houston, and Sun Valley in Idaho is reportedly closed to an aircraft incident. We're working that story. If it's anything very significant, of course, we'll bring that along to you.

The active weather stays along the Gulf Coast states for your back to work for tomorrow. And out west, hey, Don, we've got a new storm finally bringing some rain to California. Maybe some sprinkles over the fire area.

LEMON: Ok. But no name, it's not a named storm yet.

JERAS: No, no, no. Not in the Pacific; nothing to worry about tropically there. A little far north of there.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much.

Power to the people: thousands descend on the nation's capital unhappy with the president, fed up with the government, sick of current health care proposals.

And twice in less than a week a Miami police officer is involved in the use of deadly force.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In Miami, there's a curious case of two fatal shootings involving one officer just days apart. As CNN's John Zarrella is discovering, the details are quickly turning into a huge controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The middle of June; a steamy quiet night on Miami Beach until the 911 call.

911 OPERATOR: Miami Beach police and fire, how may I help you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Two Hispanics walking down the block with T-shirts on. It looks like one of them has machine gun on him. ZARRELLA: Security camera video shows Hussein Shehada (ph), a tourist from Virginia and his brother Samir (ph) walking down the street, a noticeable bulge in one of their shirts. They are stopped by police. Something is said.

Another camera shows Hussein being shot and falling to the ground. SAMIR SHEHADA, STOPPED BY POLICE: His hands were already up. His hands were up for a good two seconds, three seconds.

ZARRELLA: An eyewitness tells CNN it appeared Shehada was reaching behind his back when police shot him. Sources close to the investigations say the bulge was nothing more than a coat hanger.

Four days later on Miami Beach a taxi is carjacked.

911 OPERATOR: Did he have a gun?

UF: So he hit you with a gun?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

ZARRELLA: After a chase the suspect gets out of the taxi, authorities say, and fires at police who fired back killing him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In both these cases officers responding to dispatch calls received from the public subjects armed with weapons.

ZARRELLA: But police have been unable to directly link a gun to either incident. Still, police say the officers clearly believed their lives were in danger.

(on camera): But one officer, both times. The same officer who shot and killed Hussein Shehada was also involved in the shooting death of the alleged carjacker. Four days after the first incident, Officer Adam Tavss was back on patrol.

(voice-over): Neither Tavss nor his attorney has made a public statement, but experts wonder regardless of the circumstances is four days enough time away?

DET. JUAN SANCHEZ, MIAMI BEACH POLICE DEPT: I think each person would be an individual process. I don't know. You would have to see -- even myself I would not know if that'll be long enough because I have never been involved in that type of scenario.

ZARRELLA: There are more than 20,000 police departments in the United States. All have individual policies following police involved shooting. Many, just like Miami beach, a minimum 72 hours off coupled with psychological support.

Maria Haberfeld has studied police use of force decades.

PROF. MARIA HABERFELD, STUDIED POLICE USE OF FORCE: I think it's a (INAUDIBLE) judgment on any police department to have -- to maintain the rules that allow an officer who was involved in fatal shooting to be back on the streets four days after the incident.

ZARRELLA: Officer Adam Tavss has been with Miami Beach police for three years. His recent review says he, quote, "meets expectations." He is now on desk duty while authorities investigate whether he did anything wrong. LAWRENCE MCCOY SR., VICTIM'S FATHER: I want justice for my son. I think if you murder two people there should be consequences behind this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers are required to make split second decisions based on a variety of factors, and cannot afford to hesitate or be wrong.

ZARRELLA: So how do you train, prepare for that split second?

SGT. BILL PENNYPACKER, BROWARD COUNTY FLORIDA SHERIFF'S OFFICE: In less than half a second your pulse may go from 60 to 160, 170, your heart is beating out of your chest.

Put that gun down.

ZARRELLA: The Sheriff's Department of Broward County uses an interactive video screen that plays out multiple scenarios officers may face.

PENNYPACKER: Do not approach her. Do not approach her.

ZARRELLA: The outcome is not always the same.

PENNYPACKER: Come talk to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told you to leave me alone.

I told you to leave me alone.

PENNYPACKER: I understand that.

ZARRELLA: In this scenario no shots are fired. Police say it's the way they wish every confrontation went. In real life it just doesn't work out that way. It didn't on Miami Beach.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami Beach.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Conservatives may be in the minority in Washington, but they still got a lot of power. Take a look at what the nation's capital looked like this weekend. That was just yesterday.

Tens of thousands of people packed the National Mall protesting what they say is overspending by the Obama administration, and they say they're not done yet.

You'll meet Oscar Hijuelos, an American pioneer as we celebrate the contributions of Latinos to our country.

Plus this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can have my country when they pry it from my cold, dead hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think their agenda...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Socialism, fascism, comparing the president to Hitler. How did we get to this point, and what does it say about us as a nation?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Tens of thousands of people opposed to higher taxes and bigger government rolled into Washington this weekend. The two-week coast- to-coast caravan known as the Tea Party Express joined up with other conservative groups for yesterday's rally outside the Capitol.

Marchers say they came out in force to protest the stimulus package, the auto bailout, and especially the president's health care reform package.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to let the government know that we do not want government involvement in our health care. Nor do we want the higher taxation that comes along with such a proposal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really afraid that our country is taking a socialistic or even a Marxist direction. I don't understand why there isn't allegiance to the country. They're pushing more allegiance to the President of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The government should be doing things that are authorized by the constitution. They should be doing things that the people want not things that they just decide are nifty. The bottom line, we can't afford these things anymore. The government should be --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, there are very strong opinions that were being voiced out there. I discussed some of the tough talk with Jim Greer, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party, and syndicated columnist David Sirota.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: David, what's happening here?

DAVID SIROTA, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Well, again, I think that there's a segment of the population that does not want to accept President Obama as a legitimate president. And I think that you can tell that this is really a partisan lynch mob by understanding that these people were not out making the exact same criticism of President Bush. Where were the people who were worried about the constitution when President Bush trampled the constitution with the Patriot Act? Where were these people talking about government spending when President Bush inflated the deficit to record proportions? LEMON: Jim, that's a good question.

SIROTA: Where were they?

JIM GREER, FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIRMAN: Well, I think you saw where they were when the polls showed that unfortunately from a Republican standpoint, President Bush was down in the 20s. I mean, the American public -

SIROTA: Where were the protests?

GREER: Well, you know, there were people protesting President Bush because I saw them quite often as I traveled this country.

SIROTA: Do you think conservative tea partiers are protesting -

LEMON: I do have to say no that people did protest the Iraq war. I saw a lot of that. I covered a lot of it.

GREER: A lot of that.

LEMON: People said they had pictures of President Bush. They hung things of him in effigy. They put it in on fire, lit them on fire. So there were things, but they were protesting a war, and that they were looking for evidence that never turned up. So it's kind of a different thing, but he was protested.

SIROTA: Those are different protesters.

GREER: Where we are today -

Well, they may be different protesters, but you asked me, where were they? And there were people protesting President Bush. Where we are today, Don, David, is that this administration has tried to radically change the role of government in our daily lives and the role of government in major industries that have made this country great. And that is why Americans, not just Republicans, but Americans are frustrated. They can't get answers to their questions. They're concerned about President Obama's views of what America should look like today and what it will look like in the future. And they just reject that. And they're angry. They're frustrated because it's not the America that they brought up to have great respect for, and they're concerned.

SIROTA: Can I - can I respond to that? Let me just respond and say -

LEMON: Quickly, David.

SIROTA: I understand the frustration about the bailouts. I was opposed to the bailouts. My point here is that there's a double standard. We did not see the tea party protests against President Bush. And that leads all of us - it should lead all of us to conclude that this is a partisan lynch mob. This is a segment of the population that does not want to accept President Obama. Some of that - part of that population does not want to accept them as our president. LEMON: What are you saying here?

SIROTA: Because he's an African-American.

LEMON: Are you saying you think racism is a factor?

SIROTA: I think there's - I think there's partisanship. I think there's ideology. I think there's racism. I think these people are, again, a political lynch mob. They do not want to accept the legitimacy of President Obama. And I think that's a real tragedy. I mean, you want to talk about the role of government, and you want to talk about socialism. Let's just talk about that for a second.

LEMON: When you talk about socialism, really, I talk to people, and I don't think that they know what socialism really means. Because we don't live in a socialist society. I'm sure there can be socialist aspects to our - hang on - to our side of it. Really, it's contrary to popular belief, socialism is not a political system. It is not an economic system. It is distinct from capitalism.

SIROTA: Yes, but we don't live in a pure capitalism, Don. I mean, I drove on a road to get here. That road was built with a socialist enterprise. The schools, the public schools, they're a socialist enterprise. Medicare is a "socialist enterprise." So let's have a fair debate, an honest debate about what's we're really talking about.

LEMON: And Jim, you don't really like bringing race up for this as well. Talk about that.

GREER: Because I think when you bring race up when it's not a legitimate part of the conversation, it doesn't provide the opportunity that when race is a problem for it to be addressed like it should be. You know, most Americans, if not all Americans, watched on January 20th when President Obama took the oath of office, he is president. He is a legitimate president. It is about his approach to governing. And when we have 38 czars, senior policy czars that are setting policy for cabinet secretaries without going through the process of senate confirmation -

LEMON: I do have to tell you, though -

GREER: There's a lot of concerns about this.

LEMON: I do have to tell you, Jim, it is the elephant in the room. And, again, everywhere, I was at a big event in Chicago, and the same thing. People in the room saying hey, Don, nobody's talking about this. And these weren't African-Americans who were saying this. And these weren't necessarily liberals who were saying it as well.

Some of my conservative friends, some of the conservative people said it's the elephant in the room, no one really wants to talk about it. It's not the whole thing but it is a factor and you can't deny that. And maybe this is good for the country in a way because at least we get it out in the open. We talk about it, maybe come to some understanding about it. David - SIROTA: That's the problem, it's not out in the open. You hear Jim denying that this is an impulse. Look, you've got the same tea party people questioning whether President Obama is an American citizen, demanding his birth certificate. It's already been shown, already been put out there. You have these people saying that he was trained in a madrassa saying that he is not Christian. This all adds up to an effort to try to drag race into the conversation.

And then you have people like Jim who say, well, that's not really going on. You know what we call that? That's called dog-whistle politics. That's the right wing trying to signal to its base to try to play to a racist -

LEMON: Jim, I'm going to let you respond and I'm going to give you the last word because, you know, I talked to you a lot. I kind of beat up on you before. I'll give you the last word.

GREER: No, that's all right.

LEMON: What I want to ask you though is -

GREER: Sure.

LEMON: What's the solution? How do we - if you deny it, right, and the people are telling you hey, it's part of it, especially African- Americans or minorities. If they're telling you it's part of it and you deny it then you deny their truth. Maybe it's not a part of it once you come to some sort of, you know, agreement if you have a conversation. So then what is the solution? How do we work together, Jim? How do Republicans, Democrats, libertarians, everyone, how do you work together to get something - to get this resolved?

GREER: Well, if it deal is with the race issue, you make sure that anyone who is a decision-maker in the process or a leader of any political party or organization who's participating in this national discussion does not in any way tolerate the race issue and brings everyone back to what they need to be talking about, and that is the discussion of how America should be governed.

There's no place for this race issue. If it is present - and I'm not saying it's not - racism does exist in America. But it cannot always be the fallback position when we disagree with public policy issues. And I also think, Don, when race is talked so much by certain people about President Obama, it is disrespectful to the president, and it somehow goes back to, well, do you consider him legitimate?

And when I and others say, well, of course, we do, why are you even asking the question, I think it's disrespectful to the president.

LEMON: Right.

GREER: He is the president. America should celebrate the election of the first African-American president. But let's move on and talk about governing and the philosophy of governing.

(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: Jim Greer and David Sirota.

Over the next month or so, CNN will be shining a light on the Latino community. Tonight live in the NEWSROOM Oscar Hijuelos. See how he paved the way for Latinos in America. Hello, sir. And around the world.

And it is opening day at the NFL season. Will America's most popular sport feel an economic pinch this season? Rick Horrow is here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Right here on CNN in the NEWSROOM, we are profiling Latinos who overcame obstacles and shattered stereotypes to make history. It is part of our new series. It's called "Pionetos, Latino Firsts." Our focus tonight is Oscar Hijuelos. He is the first Hispanic to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his book "Mambo Kings." "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." It's good to see you and good to talk to you. How are you?

OSCAR HIJUELOS, I'm in one piece, as they say in New York.

LEMON: You are in one piece, and you made it.

HIJUELOS: Yes, sir.

LEMON: Winning a Pulitzer, obviously, I'm sure, it was a shock and a change - it was life-altering, I'm sure.

HIJUELOS: Well, you know, when I actually wrote that book, the "Mambo Kings Plays Songs of Love," I want to do a thing about Cuban music and the way I grew up in New York, biculturally and about the intersection of cultures, mainstream American as we see it through "I Love Lucy" and also the lives of two Cuban musician who were immigrants, and I never even thought that book would get published when I first wrote it.

And because of that having been poor in the first place, I had nothing to lose and not having expected it to be published, I had felt enormous amounts of freedom, and all those energy of life changing and the scene interpreting lives, sort of in that book. So I'm very proud of it. And the Pulitzer was secondary for me.

LEMON: And that's, by the way, I like that book the "Dark Dude." I should read that one. So listen, that's a good lesson for a lot of people especially kids when you said you never thought the book would even get published and then it wins a Pulitzer.

HIJUELOS: Well, the truth is that before that period, that book really, there were very few publishing houses in New York City dealing or publishing main - you know, Latino writers. I mean, it was a very - I can barely think of any titles. Most Latino authors were being published out of university presses or small presses. But New York was unresponsive. And so whatever my book was about, it seemed to help open some doors. And so when I talked to young kids today who want to be writers and in they're Latinos, in particular, I tell them don't let anyone get you down. Always proceed forward with confidence and believe in yourself. Because that's tough. And a lot of these kids come from poor families.

I was talking to some gang bangers, I hate to use that term, on tour "Dark Dude" and they look at me. Here I am and I'm trying to tell hem, hey, listen, I know what you guys have been going through and how hard it is to get your act together in terms of feeling confident about life.

LEMON: And you want to be a role model to them, but, you know, I want people to know about your life. So let's go ahead and talk about that. You were - where were you born?

HIJUELOS: Well, I was born in New York.

LEMON: In New York.

And you were sick. You overcame a lot of sickness as a kid. What was going on?

HIJUELOS: Well, you know, the irony is I went on a journey with my mother to visit aunts in Oriente in Cuba, which is in the eastern part of the island, and we were there for, you know, a couple of months out on farms and in towns and I contracted some kind of infection that blossomed into a kidney disease which put me in hospitals for a couple of years.

And you know, I was, like, three, four, or five at that time, and I was separated from my family, and that separation from my identity, ironically enough, having to do with Cuba itself, has always been, like, one of the subscenes going through my work, which is what is an identity about? You know, who are you and what is it all about, L.C.?

LEMON: And I'm sure a lot of that came from the disease I believe is ketone nephritis, and you spent two years in a children's sanitarium. So a very interesting life. And we have to say, of course, "Mambo Kings" went on to become a movie. Antonio Banderas in the movie. Great movie. There it is. I'm sure you never thought this would happen to you.

I'm going to give you the final word here. We have to move on. What do you have to say? You know, I talked to you a little bit about Judge Sonia Sotomayor and what that means to Latinos, Hispanics. Talk to us about that and your wish for Latinos in America.

HIJUELOS: Well, I think that what we have to do is we're going to get a lot of static in life. We always have. Society is always looking for escape goats and it seems when I listen to the news, I watch CNN. I hear that people are bad mouthing Latinos and using our people as escape goats as they do other groups. You know, the bad guys out there in American land, who had lost their moral compass.

What I say to young kids who confront such hard adversity is to keep looking for siempre aderante - you know, always got to keep going forward, and I just think Sotomayor is a perfect example of that rising above all that static.

LEMON: Very well put. Oscar Hijuelos. Thank you. You're the first. You are our first -

HIJUELOS: Somebody - hard work. Somebody has to do it.

LEMON: We appreciate it.

And much success to you.

HIJUELOS: Thank you, sir.

LEMON: I want to tell you, coming up next Sunday, we profile John Ruiz. He is the first Hispanic heavy weight boxing champion. We'll introduce you to the man who defeated Evander Holyfield to win boxing's biggest prize. And coming to CNN in October, "Latino In America," stories you will see only here on CNN.

First Congressman Joe Wilson now Serena Williams. Her mouth may have caused her spot in the U.S. Open finals and now it's costing her some money as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Sports business analyst, Mr. Rick Horrow, is in the house to talk about Serena Williams' meltdown. Let's play a little bit of it and then we'll talk about it.

RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Foot fault, and that -

SERENA WILLIAMS, DEFENDING U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: OK. And then it just -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK.

HORROW: Are you a lip reader?

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Yes and you don't have to be - you can see that one a mile away. But, really it was a meltdown. And - what do you make of it?

HORROW: A foot fault is what - but it's an unfortunate incident. She was fined $10,500 today. But it's an automatic penalty point. And it happened to be at match point. So she lost the match at a very inopportune time. She's got $12 million a year or so in endorsement deals. A $40 million deal with Nike. She had a Wilson racket deal which is good because she broke that one. So maybe she has to get another one. So it really couldn't come at a worse time. She had a book come out. She bought into the Miami Dolphins. They got throttled by the Atlanta Falcons here today. Not a good weekend, Serena.

LEMON: I want to read some of our viewer feedback.

Candy Cane says Don, John Mack, John McEnroe used to go off all the time however I never remember anyone feeling threatened. And then someone says the issue says saw the tennis match. Saw Williams' rant. Couldn't believe her. She was fined today. Wrong is wrong. And I'm a fan. And then it goes on and on. Some are defending here but it's saying the language is inexcusable.

HORROW: She is 67th in the world list of celebrities, according to Forbes. No matter what she does, she's under a huge microscope.

LEMON: All right. Let's talk about the men's Open final tomorrow night. Women's finals tonight, 9:00 p.m.

HORROW: Right. Finals women tonight. Big deal. Kim Clijsters came back, had a kid. It's a wonderful story. No Americans in the finals either way. But the USTA made a lot of money because of this tournament. Plow money back in and they'll train better. You got an Argentine by the name of Del Potro. You got Federer in the match, number one in the world. It will be a really exciting match just a week late. We couldn't stop the rain. We could have stopped the rain.

LEMON: Yes. Federer, we were talking Wimbledon and all of the endorsements and everything. Hey, let's talk about - ready for some football? Some NFL?

HORROW: Well, ready for some football today, ready for some football on Thursday. Ticket prices up about four percent. Most of the teams are freezing it. But in today's economy, you've got to make sure that people go because they can afford it, not because they have to. Big deal.

LEMON: All righty.

HORROW: You look larger than life. Maybe it's the makeup.

Speechless, ladies and gentlemen.

LEMON: OK. Rick Horrow. That's the last time you'll see. Thanks for sitting in.

HORROW: This is a great segment.

LEMON: All right. It's always great seeing you, Rick.

All right. So what do you think about a car that gets between four and six miles to a gallon. Maybe you should take off in one. It's just an estimate. That's what a top stock car is set to get. Nascar says forget about that. They're going green. We're going to show you how next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Don't look for a hybrid car to take the checkered flag anytime soon at a Nascar event. But the sport arguably one of the most popular in the country is gradually steering its fans and racing crews to be less wasteful and to recycle more.

CNN's Brianna Keilar visited spent the day at the track and discovered a leaner, greener Nascar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Don, on any given weekend, these cars on the racetrack will consume about 3,000 gallons of gasoline combined. So when you think of Nascar you probably don't think of an eco-friendly sport. But Nascar is trying to change that.

(voice-over): For a sport centered around cars that get about five miles per gallon, Nascar is an unlikely incubator for some eco- friendly practices. At races, all used tires are shredded. Each year, 180,000 gallons of oil and automotive fluids are recycled.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of the fluids in these cars, except for the coolant, because the coolant is actually just water. So that's environmentally friendly. But everything else, safety clean captures, adds up to 180,000 gallons a year.

KEILAR (on camera): The oil in a stock car could be used for what?

MIKE LYNCH, NASCAR GREEN INITIATIVE COORDINATOR: It could be used in fleets and cars, recycled oil.

KEILAR (voice-over): Nascar recently hired Mike Lynch to coordinate its new green initiative. He's trying to lessen the environmental impact of racing cars. But his major focus is beyond the track.

LYNCH: Imagine this venue full with 125,000 people and all of the waste that they got here. What goes on the track is maybe, you know, five percent of that.

KEILAR: Nascar races are like small cities. Thousands of fans, thousands of cars, tons of trash.

(on camera): Four tons of bottles and cans. How many bottles and cans is that?

JOHN BURGESS, COCA-COLA RECYCLING: That's about a million, 1.5 million containers.

KEILAR (voice-over): Here at Richmond International Raceway, that gets recycled. But only about one-third of Nascar's racetracks recycle. Though officials say all of them will within the next few years. And they add, trying to offset what happens in and around the track is just one part of their strategy.

(on camera): The sport is hanging much of the success of its greening efforts on changing the everyday behavior of its fans. And that's where the drivers come in.

BRIAN VICKERS, NASCAR DRIVER: I love the, you know, the environment. I love enjoying the outdoors. And I want to make sure that it's, you know, still there for my kids and grandkids.

KEILAR (voice-over): Brian Vickers, driver of the number 83 car is one of the sport's young talents. His personal car is a hybrid. And he buys carbon credits to offset the environmental impact of his three homes. Since Nascar fans are infamous for their loyalty to the brands that's sponsor their drivers, Vickers thinks he and others might be able to sell them on eco-consciousness as well.

VICKERS: There's a connection with this sport and its fans unlike any other. And I'm excited about that. Because I think that presents an opportunity for this industry to make a bigger impact than any other.

KEILAR: The potential is there, but even Jeff Gordon, one of the biggest names in racing, will tell you the sport needs to be to do more to sell fans on a greener lifestyle.

JEFF GORDON, NASCAR DRIVER: I think there's a lot more that we can be doing. And I think the fans would appreciate that.

KEILAR (on camera): But spreading the green message to fans is really just an individual effort. And only a few drivers like Brian Vickers are doing it. Nascar as a sport has not launched an awareness campaign, although officials say they're planning to do so here in the next few years, Don.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Brianna Keilar, thank you very much. That's it for us.

But I want to tell you that we're following developments in New Haven, Connecticut, tonight. We're just getting word that police are going to hold a press conference tonight. She is the university student that has been missing now since Tuesday. Five days and no signs of her. New Haven police holding a news conference tonight and talking about new evidence in that case as well.

So we'll bring that to you live and also other stories. The president has a big speech ahead of him tomorrow on the economy. We'll tell you what he will possibly say. I'm Don Lemon. See you back here at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. Meantime, an "AC 360" special. Afghanistan's elections, Taliban resurgence and the mounting American casualties. They're in Afghanistan tonight. Anderson Cooper right now.