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Sheriff in Balloon Case Anticipates Criminal Charges; Justice of Peace Denies Interracial Marriage; Crackdown Controversy
Aired October 17, 2009 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Don Lemon in Atlanta with breaking news out of Colorado right now. The so-called balloon controversy has blown up with expectation of criminal charges. Straight to Colorado now. I want you to listen to what the sheriff said just a short time ago, followed by the owner of the balloon, Richard Heene's statement. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ALDERDEN, SHERIFF, LARIMER COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT: All I'm really here to say tonight is that we have made some significant progress in this investigation, obviously. We are conducting interviews as we speak. We have been conducting interviews since noon. We've had investigators here as well as at the house. We're in the process of drafting and completing drafting and obtaining some search warrants, and we do anticipate at some point in the future there will be some criminal charges filed with regards to this incident.
What those charges may be as I stated yesterday, what we were looking at is class three misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough, given the circumstances. So what we're going to have to do is back up a little bit, retract, talk to the district attorney.
We certainly want to talk to FAA officials and federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that would be more appropriate in the circumstances than what we're able to do locally. So that said, I really don't have anything more to say. We're still working this very hard, and I anticipate that we'll be putting out some sort of a press release later today simply announcing that we'll have a press conference tomorrow.
And hopefully by tomorrow, we'll have some additional details. I don't know yet. I think we have to wait and see how far it goes tonight and what develops.
QUESTION: Sheriff, what's your hopes?
ALDERDEN: Let me just say that we will have a press conference tomorrow and address these issues. But as I've said, we've made progress. I think I've said enough that you guys can read what's going on here without me making anything more formal. Until we can get the rest of the evidence collected, perform some more tests, we have a few things to do, but I think you get the gist now. I'm just going to call it off there and say we will have a press conference tomorrow morning some time. OK, thank you. RICHARD HEENE, CREATOR OF RUNWAY BALLOON: I was talking to the sheriff's department just now to further things along, and we're doing well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. That's Richard Heene. Do we have the video? Can we put that up? Do we have Richard Heene leaving? We have some video of him getting in the car, as we talk about this. And as you heard, we're going get that cued up for you. This is all coming in, just within the last couple of minutes. This is indeed breaking news happening in Colorado.
As you heard what the sheriff said, let's play the video and I'll just talk about the story a little bit. We're expected to learn more within the next few hours, the sheriff said. He's saying read between the lines, I don't have to tell you, I will just stop it there.
This is Richard Heene and his wife leaving the sheriff's department tonight. The country really was transfixed on this Thursday by the sight of that silvery balloon floating through the sky in Colorado, believed to have that little boy, their little boy, those are the parents there leaving the sheriff's department tonight.
He turned out to be safe at home. The 6-year-old's name is Falcon. He later told CNN it was for a show. Everyone was confused by that when they saw the body language. We're going to show you that and talk about that a little bit with the body language expert.
The boy's father, Richard Heene, has adamantly denied it was a publicity stunt. So right now I think it's apropos to bring in our security analyst, Mr. Mike Brooks.
Mike, you know, you're in the business. He was saying a lot. Read between the lines. I think we kind of get what the sheriff was talking about although he did not go into what he expects those charges to be. He said possibly a class three misdemeanor. He goes giving the severity of this, these charges should be even higher, he believes.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST (on phone): You know, Don, I have been following this from the very beginning. When CNN called me when this was happening, you know, because of my rescue experience and everything else, and, you know, we watched this unfold, and then we heard the statement by little Falcon on "LARRY KING LIVE," when Wolf asked him the question. And then the father said, you know, was very defensive. And then, I mean, all along, Larimer County sheriff has said, you know what, I think everything's okay, you know. I think it was really -- it was a legitimate -- and now he said, and the other day after the statement by Falcon on "LARRY KING LIVE," he said, well, we're going to go back and interview them.
LEMON: And, Mike, I want to say this, though. According to the sheriff, the sheriff didn't say what the charges were, who the charges were going to be against.
BROOKS: No.
LEMON: He said just criminal charges. He anticipates charges in the case. He said, I thought it was very interesting, he said you can read what I'm saying. And what did you take away from that? Again, he's not saying that this is a hoax. He's not saying that the dad did anything wrong. But when he says "read between the lines," what does he mean by that?
BROOKS: What I hear from that, Don, as a former investigator myself. We're going to go -- the other day, just Friday he said, we're going to go back and re-interview them. And now what I'm hearing, he's talking about class three misdemeanors and possibly federal charges.
LEMON: Yeah.
BROOKS: Exactly. What he's saying now is, I've re-interviewed them. Don, they're going to do search warrants. What I'm hearing from there, we're going to do search warrants of their computer, of their cell phone.
You know, I think the sheriff has kind of stepped back a couple -- a couple steps and said wait a minute. We need to take a closer look at this. And bottom line, I hear from this, somebody's going to jail. That's what I hear.
LEMON: Really? Even with the class three misdemeanor? You think he's going to try to get those charged upped? And because of the attention paid to this, the amount of resources, not only with news organizations, probably the news organizations, we have to eat it.
But what about the resources that were put into it for search and rescue people in that area? Who -- is someone going to be held accountable for that if this indeed turns out to be the case that this was not real and that this was manufactured?
BROOKS: There's a very good possibility of that. Just the other day, news agencies were asking, OK, sheriff how many resources were put into this? He just talked about Larimer County, Don. He said, at least 80 people were involved in this. And we're not just talking Larimer County. We're talking a number of different counties, all the way down to Adams where that went down in the field just east of Denver International Airport. So, you know, I hear the sheriff kind of backtracking now. I think somebody's going to jail, Don. I really do.
LEMON: Mike, here's a question --
BROOKS: Sure.
LEMON: You're in law enforcement. When you see cases like this, it's all, there are children involved.
BROOKS: Yep.
LEMON: I don't want to be too speculative here. But there are children involved and there were adults. And how far up the chain could this go federally as far as someone being held accountable for the children and those sorts of things? Like how far can this go? Have you seen anything like this? Is there a precedent as to what someone in this case could possibly be charged with?
BROOKS: You know, I've never seen anything like this before. But, you know, they're going to go back and they're going to take a look at everything, Don. Get a look at the totality of this whole thing. From the very time that it happened, and then you hear the statement of little Falcon on "LARRY KING LIVE," you know, and Wolf tried to follow that up with dad, and dad was very defensive.
LEMON: He got very defensive. But also, I think you bring up a very interesting thing too that we need to talk about. They're going to go over computer records and what have you because there are people who have been talking about social media about this, about what's going on? What kind of e-mails the dad possibly sent or what have you. So that's all part of the story here.
Mike, I want to make it clear again, the sheriff didn't say what -- who was going to be charged and what the charges were. He said probably class three misdemeanor but he said charges probable in the case in the near future. So we don't know if it involves Richard Heene or the wife or whoever. It could be some outside involvement. We have no idea.
BROOKS: Don, I find it interesting that I hear a different tone in the sheriff as it was compared the other day until now. Very different tone.
LEMON: Security analyst Mike Brooks. Mike, great information. Thank you so much. If you hear anything with all of your sources, get back to us here on CNN.
BROOKS: I definitely will. Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Thank you very much. We're going to continue to follow this developing story on CNN with more details. We are going to hear more from the sheriff and also from Richard Heene tonight speaking in Colorado about charges pending, pending charges as the sheriff said in this case.
Meantime, a man charged with performing marriage ceremonies says he just doesn't believe in interracial marriages. Should he keep his job? Some prominent politicians say no way.
And the family returns to the scene of their sister's death only to find her remains still littered on the side of the road. How does this happen? I'm checking the social networking sites now. Your comments are very interesting. We want to hear from you. Any of the social platforms right there, you can get us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK. There's some new information on this story that sort of broke last week as well. And it's a developing one. A white bride, a black groom, trying to get to the altar. But one Louisiana justice of the peace said, "I object." Keith Bardwell refused to give the go-ahead to this interracial couple, this marriage, claiming it's out of concern for children who might be born to that couple. Doesn't think there should be mixed children. And tonight he said he's not sorry and has no plans to resign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEITH BARDWELL, JUSTICE OF THE PEACE: It's kind of hard to apologize for something that really, truly down in your heart, you don't feel like you've done wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. He said he's not sorry because he doesn't believe in it. He doesn't feel like he's done anything wrong. Let me know what you think on the social networking sites. Bardwell insists he's not racist, saying, quote, "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home. I marry them. They use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."
Bardwell estimates he has refused to marry about four couples during his career, all in the past 2.5 years. Now Governor Bobby Jindal reacted very strongly saying Bardwell's license should be pulled. And Senator Mary Landrieu called the incident an example of ugly bigotry.
Our Sean Callebs has been following the story. We want to give you the background on it and then we're going to talk to someone who thinks that this is ridiculous and he's looking for justice. Now, he didn't have any luck getting Justice Bardwell to talk. We didn't and Sean didn't as well. But he did talk to the frustrated newlyweds who got married by a different justice. Look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You OK?
BETH MCKAY, DENIED MARRIAGE LICENSE ON ACCOUNT OF RACE: It's just so hurtful.
CALLEBS (voice-over): Hurtful because she never could have expected what she heard from Tangipahoa Parish Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell when she called Bardwell's office a week ago to handle her marriage ceremony.
B. MCKAY: He was the first one that I called, Keith Bardwell. And when I called, we were setting up a time for us to come over. And, at the end of the conversation, she said that she had to ask me a question. And she asked if this was an interracial marriage.
CALLEBS: The answer is yes. She is white. Her then fiance, Terence, is black.
B. MCKAY: She said, well, we don't do interracial weddings or marriages. CALLEBS: Beth said, her jaw hit the floor.
(on camera): Is this something you feel was or is overt racism, or was it -- was there any other reason behind this?
B. MCKAY: It's -- it's overt racism. And we are used to the closet racism. But we're not -- we're...
(LAUGHTER)
B. MCKAY: We're not going to tolerate that over racism from an elected official.
CALLEBS: Well, we found Keith Bardwell, the justice of the peace, tucked away in a rural part of this parish. Now, he has been a public official, a justice of the peace, more than 30 years. We want to hear what he has to say about this entire controversy.
(voice-over): So, about a mile down Bardwell Road, we found the Bardwell house that doubles as his office. This woman identified herself as Keith Bardwell's wife. She said he wouldn't talk, and she demanded we not take any pictures.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have nothing to say to anybody. (INAUDIBLE) been twisted and turned.
CALLEBS: We asked, but never got an answer, about what exactly she meant. So, we left.
(on camera): But he's done this before. You said that he has referred people to you before.
TERRI CROSBY, TANGIPAHOA PARISH JUSTICE OF THE PEACE: He has referred people, interracial couples, to me on one or two occasions. And then, of course, I have married interracial couples on my own.
CALLEBS: Turned away by Bardwell, the couple turned to Terri Crosby, also a justice of the peace. Last week, she married Beth and Terence under this archway. She calls them a wonderful couple.
It's also personal for Crosby. She has a granddaughter who is from a mixed marriage.
(on camera): Is this a racist area? What -- what would you say?
CROSBY: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I could never believe that this area is racist, no. I think that this is the most fair, loving people.
CALLEBS (voice-over): Beth works in marketing and wants to go back to college. Terence is a welder, and it took four months for him to find work here. To them, this parish that's about 70 percent white sometimes feels like it's the 19th century.
TERENCE MCKAY, DENIED MARRIAGE LICENSE ON ACCOUNT OF RACE: It's disheartening, seriously. You know, it's 2009, and we are still dealing with a form of racism.
CALLEBS: Beth says they have received amazing support from friends and family. They see it as an opportunity.
B. MCKAY: I just think that God puts you in the right positions at the right time in order to stand up to people who -- who choose to live their lives with hate.
CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: You know, that's not what anyone bride expects to hear when she is trying to get to the altar and they're trying to get married, bride or groom. We just saw Beth McKay. Her tears over what she heard from that justice of the peace, and she joins us now live tonight by telephone from Hammond, Louisiana. How are you?
MCKAY (on phone): I'm good. I'm great. Thank you. How are you?
LEMON: I'm doing well. I understand you're probably a little bit nervous. But you said this has taken a toll on you and you are surprised by this, although I should say that you didn't want this to happen but you're not surprised by this?
MCKAY: I'm not surprised, no. I grew up in this area. So did Terence. So we have definitely seen this type of racism before in our lives, living here. I was, I guess, shocked by still, you know, still they're willing to be that way.
LEMON: Yeah. And, you know, I grew up in Baton Rouge just down the road from Hammond, Louisiana. So we talked about that earlier. You heard the woman -- the woman who married you said that she doesn't believe that it is a racist area, and you heard the justice of the peace say, Mr. Bardwell say, you know what, I did nothing wrong. I don't feel that I have to apologize. These are his beliefs.
MCKAY: Those are his beliefs. But I think that most -- most people that hold the same beliefs as them think that. They think that there's nothing wrong with what they're doing and there's not a problem, because they're not on the other side of the problem.
LEMON: So what do you say to people there who -- I mean, obviously, everyone thinks it's terrible, or most people would think that it's terrible. What do you say to the people from Louisiana or people who -- and not everyone in Louisiana but the people who have those believes as the sheriff said, don't think I did anything wrong, or people around the country who don't believe that people who are -- I think we're all of the human race but people who have different hues of skin should not be married?
MCKAY: I think that they should know we're not going to stand for it. Not just us but other interracial couples, we're not going to stand for it. And we're just -- we have legal rights. LEMON: Yeah. OK. Well, you know what, thank you so much. We really appreciate you joining us tonight. And we wish you the best in your marriage. Beth McKay joining us from Hammond, Louisiana.
There are some -- most of the people, we should say, Beth, and I'm sure you agree in Louisiana are very good people and not racist people. But there are always a few in the bunch. OK. She dropped off there.
Let's move on now. You heard he said he shouldn't apologize, right, that he is not racist, that he has had black people over in his home, loads of them. I forget what the exact quote is and they used his bathroom and he has married him.
But Marc Morial, who is the president of the National Urban League, he is joined with his counterpart in New Orleans to release a statement saying, quote, "This is a huge step backward in social justice and must not be tolerated."
Marc Morial is joining us by phone tonight. He is from New York. Marc, what do you make of all of this? What do you plan to do about it? Are you going to take any recourse in this?
MARC MORIAL, FORMER NEW ORLEANS MAYOR (on phone): Well first, I want to congratulate Beth and Terence, first of all, for the joy of their marriage.
Secondly, for the willingness to speak up very forcefully against this act of injustice. And I believe that the United States' Justice Department Civil Rights Division should investigate the actions by the justice of the peace.
This is not a trivial matter. It's just an act of overt bigotry. It's an act that violates the constitution. And I think well-meaning people throughout the nation should speak forcefully against this. This type of act has no place in 2009 America and the justice of the peace may be entitled to his point of view, but he's not fit to be a public official if believes that he has a right to discriminate in the pursuit of his public responsibilities.
LEMON: And Mr. Morial, your name, the Morial name, if anyone is even close to Louisiana, they know that huge political players there, especially in New Orleans. So you heard her say there are people there, and she believes there are a number of people there who hold those same beliefs and that those people don't understand or don't believe that they are racist.
MORIAL: And, you know, I think that the important thing and why I want to speak out is because, of course, there are some people in Louisiana and in many states and in most states who may harbor these kinds of views.
But I hope this doesn't reflect on Louisiana, and I would compliment Senator Mary Landrieu and Governor Jindal for speaking out forcefully. And I would urge and encourage other public officials in Louisiana to step up and speak on this issue in 2009. Certainly there are those who harbor those points of view. But a few loud-mouth bigots, if you will, can't carry the day if people who know it's wrong and feel it's wrong speak out forcefully and reasonably. We don't need to call, point fingers and call names.
What we do need is for the process, which is the process of the Justice Department's civil rights division to look into this matter and take whatever actions are appropriate. But I appreciate Beth and Terence. We should congratulate them for their courage. This is a happy day for them that's been a little bit marred by this. But nonetheless, I don't think we've heard the last of it.
LEMON: And I think, though, considering, you know, the strength I heard coming from her and from him, I think they'll be OK. Marc Morial, we know that you're very busy, the president of the National Urban League.
MORIAL: Thank you, Don and good luck to you.
LEMON: Thank you so much. Have a good evening.
A young man being killed after being tasered from a moving police car. Should police be firing a taser on the road? One group is pleading with them to stop.
And for months, we have been talking about the horrible violence in Chicago. Tonight we'll meet a young man who got away from the violent streets to begin a successful life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: A 5-year-old boy is shot dead, his baby brother seriously hurt, and the suspected shooter is their mom. When officers showed up today, the woman was reportedly waving a gun on the balcony of her L.A. apartment screaming, "I've wasted my life."
The suspect, who is in her mid-20s, was eventually tackled and arrested. The body of her older son was found in the living room and his 1-year-old brother is hospitalized tonight in critical condition.
It is a gruesome discovery, and it's making one family's loss even more painful. The Dallas County medical examiner's office is trying to explain how its investigators left human remains at the scene of a fatal motorcycle accident. Twenty-two-year-old Ashley Ramirez, the woman you see right there, died Thursday morning. Her family found parts of her skull at the crash site after the medical examiner's team had left the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIE ORTIZ, ASHLEY'S SISTER: The disregard to leave half of her on the side of the highway is what's most traumatic for our family. Every one of us has been out there and each one of us has found something different still, and it is -- it's unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: The medical examiner's chief investigator said this kind of thing happens usually in case where the injuries are severe. She said, quote, "We are sorry for the family because our goal is to uphold the reverence of the remains."
Police in Pensacola, Florida, have been banned from firing taser stun guns from moving vehicles following the death of a 17-year-old. Victor Steen died earlier this month after an officer fired a taser at him from inside his police cruiser. The officer had spotted Steen at a vacant construction site and ordered him to stop. Critics of the police staged several vigils and protest marches.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are troubled by the fact that the officer would use poor judgment and shoot a taser gun from a moving vehicle to subdue a suspect that ended up causing the untimely death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has just saddened the entire community.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My prayers are that the truth would come out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well the officer who fired his taser in this case is on paid leave while the investigation continues.
Breaking news out of Colorado tonight. The sheriff of Larimer County announcing possible criminal charges expected to be filed in the case of the balloon boy. We have the latest for you.
Also, the federal government is telling a tough sheriff to stop. He's rounding up illegal immigrants. The government says he's not allowed, but the sheriff says he's going to do what he wants.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: I want to update our breaking news for you tonight. Criminal charges expected in the runaway balloon saga that mesmerized a country two days ago. The sheriff of Larimer County, Colorado, addressed the media just about an hour ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALDERDEN: I really am not here to make -- is everybody going? Everybody good? OK. All I'm really here to say tonight is that we have made some significant progress in this investigation, obviously. We are conducting interviews as we speak. We have been conducting interviews since noon. We've had investigators here as well as at the house. We're in the process of drafting and completing drafting and obtaining some search warrants, and we do anticipate at some point in the future there will be some criminal charges filed with regards to this incident.
What those charges may be as I stated yesterday, what we were looking at is class three misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough, given the circumstances. So what we're going to have to do is back up a little bit, retract, talk to the district attorney.
We certainly want to talk to FAA officials and federal officials to see if perhaps there aren't additional federal charges that would be more appropriate in the circumstances than what we're able to do locally. So that said, I really don't have anything more to say. We're still working this very hard, and I anticipate that we'll be putting out some sort of a press release later today simply announcing that we'll have a press conference tomorrow.
And hopefully by tomorrow, we'll have some additional details. I don't know yet. I think we have to wait and see how far it goes tonight and what develops.
QUESTION: Sheriff, what's your hopes?
ALDERDEN: Let me just say that we will have a press conference tomorrow and address these issues. But as I've said, we've made progress. I think I've said enough that you guys can read what's going on here without me making anything more formal. Until we can get the rest of the evidence collected, perform some more tests, we have a few things to do, but I think you get the gist now. I'm just going to call it off there and say we will have a press conference tomorrow morning some time. OK, thank you. Yes. Both Mr. Heene and Mrs. Heene are here voluntarily. They're not under arrest. They are free to leave whenever they choose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We know what the country was transfixed Thursday by the sight of a silvery helium balloon floating over Colorado, believed to have the little boy inside. The boy turned out to be safe at home. The 6-year-old later told CNN it was, quote, "for a show." The boy's father has adamantly denied it was a publicity stunt. The police today interviewed Heene and his wife. Again, Heene, who is not under arrest, spoke very briefly as they left. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEENE: I was talking to the sheriff's department just now to further things along. We're doing well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A lot of people were expecting something like this, including body language expert Janine Driver. I spoke with her earlier tonight about little Falcon's surprise comment and his father's equally puzzling reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And Falcon was really in the garage this whole time. I don't know if Falcon can hear me. I know at some point he fell asleep in that garage but he was hiding out because he thought you were going to punish him for something that happened earlier in the day. Did he hear anything? Did he hear you screaming out, Falcon, Falcon? R. HEENE: He's asking, Falcon, did you hear us calling your name at any time?
FALCON HEENE, BOY FROM BALLOON: Uh-huh.
R. HEENE: You did?
MAYUMI HEENE, MOTHER OF MISSING BOY: You didn't?
R. HEENE: Why didn't you come out?
F. HEENE: You said, mmm, we did this for a show.
R. HEENE: Man.
F. HEENE: No?
R. HEENE: You didn't come out?
F. HEENE: No.
LEMON: Uh-oh. I mean, it is a little kid but I actually saw that live, and I was like, what did that kid just say? So you're watching the body language there, Janine and you're hearing him. What do you think?
JANINE DRIVER, BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT: The first thing is the father takes this really deep breath. It's actually the only real deep exasperated breath that we see him take throughout the whole interviews, all the interviews he's done. Unfortunately, this is a breath that we often see when evidence is stacked up against a bad guy. My background, I'm a retired ATF federal law enforcement officer. I've trained the CIA, the FBI, how to tell if people are lying, ATF. We see this in criminal prosecution and in interviews with criminals when the evidence is stacked up in front of them, it's like, I'm busted. So that, in and of itself, was a big hot spot for me.
LEMON: Isn't also sometimes, too, when you can't make heads or tails of -- I have gone, like, wait a minute.
DRIVER: Why not just say to your son, what do you mean by that? I would say to him, I'm the mother of a 4-year-old, I would say, Angus, what do you mean by that? Tell me more about that. You don't just say, yeah. If it doesn't make sense to the father, he should be asking additional questions. This is a huge hot spot. For me, I think there's definitely more going on with this family. I don't know if they were involved with the actual -- the parents were involved with the whole scam of it all, but maybe they wrote up a screenplay or screen show and the kids overheard them talking about it or got a hold of some notes.
LEMON: This is advice that you would give when you would advise the ATF, right? So the same thing....
DRIVER: My big thing is this, you notice what's called hot spots. We notice tons of them. The mother, when she begins to speak, starts rubbing her leg nonstop. These are called manipulators, it's OK, I'll get through it, it's OK, I'll get through it. They increase in high moments of stress. Are they under stress? Absolutely. I would ask powerful questions here.
LEMON: OK. Hang on. There's another clip at the end. Wolf Blitzer was doing the interview.
Do we have time to show the second part?
OK so we're going to show the second part where Wolf confronts him and says, what do you mean boy that? People have been calling and we notice the kid said this.
Let's listen and we'll talk about it, Janine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: He said, at least he said we did this for the show in explaining why he didn't come out of the attic.
R. HEENE: Yeah. Let me interrupt this real quick, because I think I can see the direction you guys are hedging on this. Because earlier you had asked the police officers some questions. The media out front -- we weren't even going to do this interview. And I'm kind of appalled after all of the feelings that I went through, up and down, that you guys are trying to suggest something else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. Usually if someone gets that angry, there's something going on.
DRIVER: Exactly. With anger, I want the brows down. I'm appalled about what you guys are saying. Do you know what I've been through here? I'm an emotional mess. We see no emotional activity on his face, which is indicative of somebody being deceptive or holding something back. Again, I think they know more than they're revealing and...
LEMON: Here is my thing, Janine, it's like, you know, let's hope that it's all true, because for the family and the kids that would be terrible. But a couple hours after I thought my son might be in a balloon and possibly dead or falling, why would I be on national television with my kids and my entire family doing this?
DRIVER: You wouldn't. And you'd be embarrassed. You wouldn't be doing interview after interview until your kid gets sick. This, to me, says there's more to the story, and it's devastating. I'm embarrassed for these parents. As a mother, I think this is atrocious.
LEMON: Again, as I said, I hope it's all true, for the kid's sake at least, because honesty is a big thing. When you're growing up, you should learn it.
DRIVER: One last thing. The father is doing what's called stalling techniques. We stall when we're trying to create an answer. This is a huge hot spot, pausing when you shouldn't be pausing. That's a big hot spot for deception.
LEMON: Janine Driver. Janine Driver, good stuff. Janine Driver is at the Body Language Institute and she used to, as she said, she used to consult the ATF.
Thank you so much.
DRIVER: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Good stuff from her.
Meantime, another story that we have been talking about. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the man who makes his prisoners wear pink, said it's his job to round up illegal immigrants. But the federal government is telling him to stop it. The standoff over illegals in the desert is next.
And many young men don't get away from Chicago's deadly streets. We have seen too many stories. But tonight you're going to meet a successful young man who did it. How did he do it? Can he offer us some advice, some solutions? His story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: The self-titled toughest sheriff in America is at it again. This time Joe Arpaio has launched a sweep of illegal immigrants in his home base of Maricopa County, Arizona. Today was day two of his crackdown, which has led to friction with federal authorities. Javier Soto of KTVK has the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAVIER SOTO, KTVK CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Maricopa County sheriff's deputies swarmed the Peoria business this morning.
ALEJANDRO MANZO, EMPLOYEE: I was coming and I just see a lot of sheriffs on top of the building surrounding everywhere.
SOTO: Alejandro Manzo was coming to work to On Your Way Car Wash and Quick Lube when deputies denied his entry.
Asked for my visa and stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes and then what?
MANZO: And that's about it, tell me to go ahead and leave.
SOTO: The Maricopa County sheriff's department was serving a search warrant pertaining to state employer sanction violations, a warrant that is raising critics.
LYDIA GUZMAN, SOMOS AMERICA: We have great concern when's the sheriff's office comes in and detains everybody and asks everybody for their immigration stat us to when not everybody is listed on the warrant.
SOTO: This is day two of the sheriff's crime suppression sweep. Day one netted 34 suspects, nine suspected of being in the country illegally despite the government stripping the sheriff of his immigration enforcement status.
JOE ARPAIO, SHERIFF, MARICOPA COUNTY: We don't need 2887-G. We don't have to be controlled by Washington.
SOTO: That's why his latest weapon, the Employer Sanctions Law, going after those who knowingly employ undocumented immigrants. Nine were detained today, two booked on identity theft, seven for improper paper work.
ARPAIO: We will continue to do the same job, enforce the state laws and arrest anyone here doing the enforcement of the criminal laws that are illegal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, so Sheriff Arpaio denies critics' claims that he is using racial profiling to target his criminal sweeps. We have been telling you about Chicago's mean streets, sometimes deadly streets, especially when it comes to youth violence. Well, one young man escaped it all. He's going to join us live right here in the NEWSROOM to offer us some solutions. His name is Derrius Quarles. There he is in our studio right there. We're going to talk to him, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK, tonight here is what matters in our "What Matters" series. There's a new rule at Morehouse College in Atlanta. If you're going to be a Morehouse man, you have to dress like one. The all-male historically black college has created a new dress code banning caps, hoods and doo rags in classrooms or other venues. Sagging pants are also out, along with purses, makeup and clothing usually worn by women.
Now CNN spoke to the vice president of student affairs and several students about the new dress code. A Morehouse administrator tells "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" that he knows clothing has nothing to do with what is in a person's head but in his words, first impressions mean everything.
OK so Derrius Quarles is a Morehouse man, a million dollar Morehouse man. I guess we can say that. Nineteen-years-old, he is a freshman from Chicago, majoring in biology with a minor in health. And what's extraordinary about Derrius is that he landed a million dollars in scholarships. Derrius, thank you so much for joining us. And you just turned 19, as a matter of fact, August 24th.
DERRIUS QUARLES: Thank you.
LEMON: So it's in your cards. Before I asked you how you managed to do the million dollar scholarship, what do you think about the dress code?
QUARLES: I think that -- first of all, I want to say I'm not a Morehouse man, I'm a man of Morehouse.
LEMON: All right, thank you.
QUARLES: Planning to be a Morehouse man.
LEMON: You have to wait until you graduate, then you become a Morehouse man.
QUARLES: Exactly.
LEMON: Thank you, sir, for correcting us.
QUARLES: No problem. But as far as the dress code, I was kind of in favor of the dress code, and not for reasons that as far as being biased towards people who didn't feel the need for there to be a dress code, but just for what the man of Morehouse expected to be.
LEMON: And also what the administrator said. First impressions are very important. You sort of get your perception about someone from first impressions and you didn't come here in baggy pants or wearing a doo rag. You came here wearing a suit, because?
QUARLES: Because I think it was for me personally I came here wearing a suit. Not because of Morehouse wanted me to wear a suit to come here. But it's something that actually has become very personal and the person has to do. So I think that's the con of the policy, that it may tell somebody to wear these certain things to a classroom.
LEMON: You have to be a certain way.
QUARLES: Yes, but it's not -- I don't think it changes the character per se. But it just makes them do it while they're there. But are they going to do it when they leave? That's the question.
LEMON: I get everyone wants to be an individual, but there are certain rules and certain things that happen in professional life and people will be -- people will think about you, have perceptions about you simply because of the way you look and the way you dress. And if you can avoid any of that, then by all means, I think you should try to do it. And once you establish yourself, then you become the individual. You can wear whatever the heck you want.
QUARLES: Exactly.
LEMON: So let's talk about the million dollars in scholarship. We've been doing this story on Chicago streets. You have seen the youth violence that's happening and it's happening all over the country. But it's alarming in Chicago. How did you get out of that because you didn't grow up in a wealthy family. You experienced some of that, you saw some of that.
QUARLES: I saw a lot of it, quite a lot of it. But I think that what was very special for me is I saw a lot of people come into my life that was just ready to invest. And I think personally they liked my charisma and some of the things that I was really striving towards. So that they were really ready to help. They were pleased to help me. And that was something I think that propelled me for.
LEMON: All right, so give us the solution. We have been talking to city officials, community leaders, community members, people who live there, young people, mothers who -- parents who have lost kids. What's the solution to have someone reach someone like you who are in those troubled areas, what do you do?
QUARLES: I think we have to address the cause at its root, address the issue at its root and find the real cause, and I don't think you're going to find that speaking with all of these people. I think that the root cause for me, in my opinion, is that what we're seeing is a divide between some of the communities in Chicago and the government.
And what that is is that they're employing these Olympic bid-like tactics to where they're going to focus their resources on certain communities in Chicago, focus their resources on the low-crime, high- income areas and try to sweep under the rug some of the things that are occurring in the high-crime, low-income areas.
And if we continue to see these things occur, we will continue to see is the concentrated violence that we're seeing. Derrion Albert's story is somewhat very controversial because of the video that was placed on YouTube. You see, children in Chicago see that type of violence every day. It's just it's very saddening and disheartening that Derrion Albert's story had to be put on YouTube for it to receive the attention. See that story wouldn't have received the attention that it did if it wasn't placed on YouTube or if a young man didn't decide to record it and show people this young boy being lynched, this honor student being killed with two by fours.
It's very saddening. It's very disheartening. And we have to wake up. These things are happening. Derrion Albert isn't the first. They won't be the last and that's the very sad thing about it.
LEMON: I think maybe they should talk to you and maybe get you into some schools and talk to the officials and talk to the students about how to do it. Biology major, you're going to grow up and be the king of the world, I already know it. And listen, I'm very proud of you. You're an amazing young man. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep setting that example. Very proud of you.
QUARLES: Thank you.
LEMON: Thank you.
QUARLES: Thank you for having me on.
LEMON: Really appreciate it, Derrius Quarles everyone.
Some American troops not going to Iraq after all. The Pentagon says it won't replace a unit coming home. Also, winter weather comes early to the East Coast. And brace yourself, it's going to be worse tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Three U.S. soldiers have been killed in bombings in Afghanistan. That brings 28 the number of American fatalities this month. Next door, the Pakistani authority has launched a major new offensive against the Taliban in al Qaeda, fighters in the rugged mountainous region of south Waziristan. 28,000 Pakistani troops are headed into the area to square off with up to 15,000 militant fighters. Those countries will be among the topics tomorrow morning on CNN's "State of the Union." John King will have a rare interview with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. That's at 9 Eastern only on CNN.
One more note on Iraq and U.S. troops. The Pentagon has canceled the planned deployment of more than 3,000 troops. The 1st infantry brigade combat team, 10th mountain division will not replace a North Carolina National Guard unit already in Iraq. The U.S. plans to withdraw all its combat troops from Iraq by August, leaving 50,000 in advisory roles. Those advisers are to leave by the end of 2011.
If you're up in the Northeast, if you're up in the northeast, if you're up in the northeast -- how many times can that be on the prompter? You better bundle up. Our Karen Maginnis is watching the frigid forecast for you. She's going to join you in a bit. Hi, Karen.
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey. I'll be back in just a few minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK, Karen Maginnis joins us now from the CNN Severe Weather Center. The East Coast getting pounded. Is that considered a nor'easter? And then you have a hurricane, right?
(WEATHER REPORT)
LEMON: Your comments straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. I'm just looking over some of your feedback here. Let's see. I'm having a little trouble with the computer because I want to get it on, we did a whole big social networking thing. I went to blog world. I just want to see at the bottom here. Can you see that? Can you get close where it says trending topics to the right. There we go.
Pound beat breast cancer, still the number one trending topic on Twitter. Very proud of that, very proud of that. OK, that's the only time I'll ever pat myself on the back on the show.
I want to read some of your things. MattHermens says, "Nice sweater. Is that from the Mr. Rogers collection?" That as earlier. Kongress13 says "I feel like people are confusing reality TV with reality world. You don't use public services to exploit yourself and kids." The justice of the peace violated the constitution and therefore must be removed with deliberate speed.
I'm Don Lemon. I'll see you back here tomorrow night. Have a great evening everyone. Thanks for joining us.
