Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Chilean Miners Closer to Freedom; Verdict in Connecticut Home Invasion Trial
Aired October 05, 2010 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And here we go, top of the hour. Want to welcome you, the women, the men watching us on American Forces Network all around the world. We love having you here. We're going to hit you fast this hour. See if you can keep up with me. Let's go.
First, drama unfolding in Chile. We're hearing that a drill is about 500 feet from reaching those 33 miners trapped underground. So, forget Christmas. Guess what? It's now looking like the men could be out in a manner of days. We're told some of the miners have lost close to 20 pounds in order just to fit in this tiny capsule. There it was. Today marks exactly two months since that mine collapsed. Hundreds of family members are living at this nearby camp, Camp Esperanza, ready to greet the miners, you know it, one-by-one.
Next, a little girl is safe, the man accused of kidnapping her now in custody. Here's how it went down. This is Fresno, California. Police say a man drove up to an apartment building where a group of kids were playing. He got out, tried to lure the kids -- 8-year-old Elisa Cardenas started walking toward the man's truck. Here she is.
Witnesses say they yelled, they screamed for the girl to come back, but it was too late. He drove off with her. Then, after a night of frantic searching, a good Samaritan actually saw the truck. Listen to how police actually described the standoff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JERRY DYER, FRESNO POLICE CHIEF: He did the right thing. He cut in front of the suspect vehicle, cut him off. Elisa took the moment of opportunity, opened up the passenger door, jumped out and ran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Police say the little girl frightened, but she is safe tonight.
Next, the defeat of the U.S. is imminent, that's what the Times Square bomb plotter told a judge before hearing he will be spending the rest of his life behind bars. He's Faisal Shahzad. Take a look at his picture.
He admits to driving his car full of explosives into the heart of New York. I know you remember the story. He was hoping to kill as many people as possible. Guess what? Didn't work. He even had a plan to bomb Times Square again. Shahzad told the feds that he went to Pakistan for terror training last year and blasted the U.S. for drone strikes in the Middle East.
Today's sentencing comes more than five months after the attempted attack.
Next, I'm about to show you some disturbing pictures. I tweeted it up this morning. A lot of you said this is outrageous, sparking outrage across the country. Take a look now with me. This is a 2- year-old boy duct-taped to a wall in Nebraska. Obviously, this poor thing hunched over, can't free himself. Who does this? Who would do such a thing?
His 17-year-old mother, along with her boyfriend, who, by the way, is a convicted felon. Why? Oh, because they say they were high and joking around. Guess what, parents? Not so funny. Apparently, the boy's mom held him in place while the boyfriend slapped the green tape over his teeny-tiny body. They even toyed with him, taping his sippy cup to the wall, where he couldn't reach it.
Both mom and boyfriend have been convicted. She spent a few days in jail, but now has custody of her son again.
Next: sex, drugs, and the law -- a federal judge -- did you hear me? A federal judge is accused of buying drugs for a stripper. That stripper, by the way, is his mistress. Judge Jack Camp Jr. charged with buying cocaine, pot and painkillers from an undercover agent in the parking lot of a strip club. He also had two guns on him.
I want you to take a listen here to what his lawyer had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL MORRISON, ATTORNEY: This is really a case between Judge Camp and his wife. It's not a case about Judge Camp being a judge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So, guess who helped the feds take them down? Yes, the stripper. They're promising her immunity for her help in the sting operation. The judge appeared in court today in Georgia and was released on a bond of 50 grand.
Next, it is being called an ecological catastrophe, toxic red mud flooding neighborhoods and even killing some children. Take a look at the scene with me. This is Hungary. Imagine. This is chemical sludge from a reservoir that just burst. Four people are dead, including two young children, other people missing, the government declaring a state of emergency as crews fear the mud might reach two nearby major rivers in a couple of days.
By the way, if that happens, we're told it could kill everything it touches. Updates just as we get them.
Next, President Donald Trump? Could it be? The real estate titan now says he's thinking about a run for office. Trump says he can't stand to see what's happening to the country. In fact, he says things have never been worse. So, which party would he hook up with? The Republicans.
Listen to this. Trump may already be flip-flopping a little bit here. He told CNN just yesterday that running for president is not in the cards.
Now, listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Ma'am, were you shot at on the Mexican side or on the U.S. side?
TIFFANY HARTLEY, CALLER: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: So, it was the Mexican side. OK, did you see anybody?
T. HARTLEY: There were three boats.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Three boats and in those three boats were pirates. Police still have not found the man who was shot. Next, I'm going to talk to his mother about what happened, what happened on that day in the water and what the family is doing now.
Plus, finally, this verdict in Connecticut. The man who lost his entire family -- there he is, Dr. Petit -- in this gruesome home invasion, he's speaking out. We're finally hearing from him today. You're going to hear what he says about the jury's decision and why this is far from over.
But, as we head to break, take a look at the Dow's closing number right over this way.
By the way, we will be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: We have new developments for you today in the story of the Texas man who believed -- who is believed to be killed by pirates while Sea-Dooing on a lake that straddles the Texas-Mexico border.
In a moment, I'm going to talk to David Hartley's mother. Of course she's desperately trying to get someone to help her find her son's body.
First, I want you to listen to this. This is part of the -- imagine making this phone call. This is heart-wrenching, his wife, dialing 911. This is Tiffany Hartley moments after she and David were chased by armed men in boats. Listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: Ma'am, were you shot at on the Mexican side or on the U.S. side? TIFFANY HARTLEY, CALLER: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: So, it was the Mexican side. OK, did you see anybody?
T. HARTLEY: There were three boats.
911 OPERATOR: Ma'am?
T. HARTLEY: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: OK.
Are you sure that your husband got shot?
T. HARTLEY: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: Was he thrown out of the jet ski that he's in the water or something?
T. HARTLEY: Yes.
911 OPERATOR: So, you more or less know where he is?
T. HARTLEY: Yes. But he's on the Mexican side.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Obviously, she's in tears. She's distraught.
By the way, authorities on the U.S. side of the lake have been trying to spot David Hartley or his Sea-Doo on the Mexican side. But they can't cross the border to launch this full-scale search. That's part of the frustration here.
And some Mexican authorities reportedly are beginning to question Tiffany Hartley's story. The "McAllen Monitor" newspaper, they tell it that they haven't found a body or a Sea-Doo.
Tiffany Hartley was asked about that this morning on the "CBS Early Show." Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
T. HARTLEY: I can understand why they would be asking the questions.
But they haven't been looking either. As far as we know, we don't think they have been looking. And there is -- we understand the possibility that the people who did this probably have him.
And that's why maybe they can't him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Pam Hartley, she was sitting in the back of that group. She's David Hartley's mother. And she's good enough to join me by the phone from McAllen, Texas.
Ms. Hartley, of course our thoughts, our prayers are with you right now. And thank you for getting on the phone.
First, I just have to ask about your son's body and the search for his body. Have you gotten any news in the last few hours?
PAM HARTLEY, MOTHER OF DAVID T. HARTLEY: No, we haven't.
I mean, it's -- there's nothing coming to us as far as who's searching, how much they're searching. We can't cross over into Mexico with any --.
BALDWIN: Ms. Hartley, are you still with me?
P. HARTLEY: Yes. Yes. Can you hear me?
BALDWIN: Yes, I can.
So, what I'm hearing you, and I know -- I talked to the Zapata County sheriff yesterday. The issue is you can't cross to the Mexican side and that's where your son's body or Sea-Doo is believed to be.
Tell me this. What are you hearing from U.S. officials, the governor of Texas? How are they helping with it all?
P. HARTLEY: I have not heard a whole lot. I hear that calls are being made. By who, I don't know. Today has been kind of an insane day.
And it's like I don't have that information. But what I hear is that Mexico will not let us go over there. They don't have the resources to do a thorough search. So, it's like, if that's the case, please let us cross the border and start searching for him.
BALDWIN: And perhaps to add insult to injury, here's what I read today in the McAllen newspaper. They're reporting that Mexican investigators are questioning Tiffany's story about this alleged pirate attack.
They're not sure if it happened the way she's describing it, you know, these three boats, these guys with guns, AK-47s and the like shooting your son in the head. They're not necessarily buying it. How do you react to that?
P. HARTLEY: That's insane.
The way Tiffany told it is what happened. I don't know if they're trying to steer things in a different direction so they don't have to look because they don't think it happened. But it did happen and it happened the way she said it did.
And we need to go over there and search for him. We need help to push the Mexico government into letting us over there to retrieve him and bring David home. BALDWIN: Pam Hartley, I hear the pain in your voice. I can't imagine what you're going through. You know your son is out there. You can't cross into the Mexican waters.
Just briefly tell me about your son. We know there were warnings. Was he the kind of guy who would heed warnings that pirates had been spotted in this lake?
(CROSSTALK)
P. HARTLEY: Yes.
BALDWIN: Yes.
P. HARTLEY: Like, I spoke to David that morning before they went out there.
BALDWIN: What did he say to you?
(CROSSTALK)
P. HARTLEY: Pardon?
BALDWIN: What did he say to you in that phone conversation?
P. HARTLEY: He was -- he told me where they were going. He loves history. And they have been wanting to go to that church since it's been down here. They're not tourists. They've lived here for almost three years. They know where to go and where not to go.
And I asked David. I said, is it safe? And he said there's been nothing down there for months. He never would have taken Tiffany anywhere where she would have been in danger. Never. He crossed the border to go to work. He was safe. He always stayed safe.
BALDWIN: Except for Thursday.
Mrs. Hartley, I know this is tough for you. What ultimately is your message? You obviously want -- do you want the federal government's intervention? You want the Mexican government to start working to find your son. I imagine this is extraordinarily frustrating?
P. HARTLEY: It's frustrating for us. But I don't want this to happen to anybody else. I mean, it's like, things have gotten that bad then -- I don't know. I don't know. But it's like we need help to get David home.
BALDWIN: You want to get David home. Any idea if his life vest has been found. If his Sea-Doo has been found from Falcon Lake?
P. HARTLEY: No. I'm sure the jet ski was taken from the people that robbed him. The key to the jet ski was on -- would have been on David's life vest when he fell out or fell off. So, they would have probably taken the life vest. I don't know if they took him.
BALDWIN: Ms. Hartley, please do us a favor as we are all -- we are all hoping that your son is found and brought home. Please let us know as soon as you find out when and if that happens.
And our hearts go out to you. Pam Hartley, thank you for calling me.
Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
P. HARTLEY: My -- my family is still -- still gone. It doesn't bring them back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Another, another horrific story. That man -- this is Dr. William Petit. He is the sole survivor of this terrifying home invasion. His wife, his two young daughters, they were killed. Now, three years later, finally, he gets justice. The verdict, more reaction from Connecticut, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Less than 24 hours. That is how long it took this jury in Connecticut to come back with 16 guilty verdicts out of 17 in this horrific home invasion trial. Steven Hayes is guilty of murder, kidnapping and rape in the break-in and the fire that led to the deaths of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two young daughters, 17-year- old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela.
The testimony of this trial - we've been bringing it to you. It was horrendous, it was heart wrenching. The only victim to survive this attack was the father, Dr. William Petit. And he finally spoke today. We heard from him. Here's what he had to say after the 16 guilty verdicts were read. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WILLIAM PETIT, LOST FAMILY IN HOME INVASION: There's some relief, but my -- my family is still -- still gone. It doesn't bring them back. It doesn't bring back the home that we had. But certainly a guilty verdict is much better sense relief than a verdict of not guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Of course, Beth Karas is covering the case for us for "In Session" on TruTV. And Beth, when you and I were talking yesterday, you were saying, look, Brooke, I wouldn't be surprised. How could you not turn this thing over in five minutes? I mean, are you surprised it happened fairly quickly?
BETH KARAS, CORRESPONDENT, truTV'S "IN SESSION": No, I'm actually not. And that's in part, Brooke, because the defense had conceded many of the crimes he was charged with. They didn't concede capital felonies, the six capital murders, but certainly lesser included crimes. And they admitted that he had murdered Jennifer Hawke-Petit, the mother and that he raped her, he was guilty of burglary, larceny, assault. But the jury acquitted him of arson, and they actually admitted that he committed the arson along with the co- defendant, but the jury said not guilty to that count.
BALDWIN: I want to talk a little more about Dr. Petit and play a little bit more of the sound after we saw him on the steps of the courthouse. People wondered how he could sit in the courtroom day after day, so stoic, and listen to the testimony. He talked about that specifically. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETIT: If your family was destroyed by evil, I think that you would all try to do the same thing and be there for your family. That's the one thing you can do. So -- do I really -- do I really want to do it? Do I look forward to the ride every day? No. I have a little nausea every time I get off of the exit ramp, a little nausea every time I get out of the car and walk across the street.
But I think I do it for my family. But I think all -- all of you, I think, would do the same thing for your families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Pretty strong words. He said he would do the same, you know -- you would do the same for your family as he has -- as his family was destroyed by evil. Are you surprised by how strong he's been through this whole thing?
KARAS: You know, he has such inner strength. I'm not surprised by today's comments only because he has portrayed this, right from the memorial service for his three family members within a week of their deaths. He, I'm sure, is a fabulous medical doctor. He lives now with his parents. He has a lot of support from siblings and his in- laws and his parents. They're very spiritual, very religious family, and very grounded. So, he has a lot of compassion, and I'm not surprised again because historically he has portrayed this side of him.
BALDWIN: Beth, in terms of the specifics here in terms of Stephen Hayes's case. We now know he's found guilty of 16 of 17 counts. Now we're talking about a penalty phase. What does that ultimately entail?
KARAS: This is the opportunity now for the defense to put on some evidence to show why Stephen Hayes' life should be spared. At the penalty phase, jurors will hear evidence in aggravation and mitigation. Those are the buzz words used. The aggravators are what the prosecution puts on. And a lot of it is in. They'll incorporate all of the evidence that the jury has already heard.
And the decision for the jury is going to be does one outweigh the other? Does the heinousness of these crimes and all of the facts and his own criminal history and he didn't learn from being incarcerated many times. I mea, he went on to commit a triple murder? Does that outweigh anything in mitigation? And mitigation can be anything. It can be family members getting on the stand and talking about the human side of Stephen Hayes and not just this evil person on that night of July 23, 2007. It could be schoolteachers, it could be therapists, it could be friends. He has a couple of children, although I don't think his children will necessarily testify for their father. It could be Hayes himself asking for mercy saying, I never meant for this to happen. It was Joshua Komisarjevsky, the co-defendant to be tried next year. He was the mastermind, he introduced the violence here.
So, there's really no limit on what the defense can put on. Then it's up to 12 jurors, they have to agree. If they don't agree --
BADLWIN: And it's the same jurors, correct?
KARAS: -- yes, then the penalty - yes. It's the same jury. And all 12 have to agree. If they don't' agree, it's a new penalty phase trial with a new jury. In Georgia, where you are, if the jury is not unanimous, it's 10-2 say for death, the benefit goes to the defendant and it's a life in prison sentence without parole. But not so in Connecticut.
BADLWIN: Just briefly, in terms of the jury bringing back the verdicts, did they seem fairly stoic as well? Or were they tearful as I know they have been in days past?
KARAS: Well, you know, there's a good sign there would be a verdict whichever way it went because the jurors would smile and seem to be a little bit cheerful and working in a group when the public could see him during breaks, leaving the courtroom or coming into the courtroom. But they didn't really betray any emotions beyond that as they came into the courtroom. It might be a little different in the next phase if they are going to say the aggravators outweigh and he's facing a death sentence. They may be grave because they are deciding whether he should live or die.
BADLWIN: Beth Karas, we'll be talking to you in a couple of wakes -- weeks when that penalty phase kicks back up. Beth, thank you for walking us through all of the twists and turns of this trial. Unbelievable.
Coming up next, we have some breaking political news from The Best Political Team on Television. Gloria Borger, she's back. She couldn't get enough of us. She's standing by.
Also, potentially great news for the miners trapped a half mile underground. The rescue date has moved up. Way up. Maybe in a couple of days. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Let's check in with Gloria Borger at the CNNPolitics.com Desk. She is with "The Best Political Team on TV."
Gloria, we're lucky to get you twice in one show. What do you have right now? GLORIA BORGER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you, Brooke.
Well, here's a real political football for you. Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, you see him here on the football field. He's trying to score with Wisconsin Democrats, and he's trying to say that, look, my opponent, Ron Johnson, is celebrating in the end zone a little too early. This race isn't over yet.
So he's got an ad up that uses some false players kind of celebrating excessively and too early. But he also uses one real clip, Brooke, and that's the clip of Randy Moss.
You may recall he made a bunch of enemies in Wisconsin when he pretended to moon the Green Bay fans in 2005 after he scored a playoff touchdown. Guess what? The NFL says you know what, Russ Feingold? We don't care what you're running for and we don't care who you are. You cannot use that video.
So the Feingold campaign says, OK, we're going to have to edit this ad a little bit. So they're back to the drawing boards on that.
Well, also, Upstate New York -- from Wisconsin to Upstate New York, they're dropping like flies in Upstate New York. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has said that he's going to drop out of the race. That's because they're really worried that they're splitting the Republican vote up there in the 23rd District of New York.
That race was very celebrated when Democrat Bill Owens won in a special election. They don't want to hand it to the Democrat again, so Hoffman has bowed out.
And just when politics may be getting too much for you, Brooke, or kind of boring you -- I know earlier we talked about Christine O'Donnell in Delaware. But there is a Democratic candidate, Chris Coons. And guess who's going out to campaign for him?
BALDWIN: Who?
BORGER: Al Franken. Al Franken, our friend who's a senator, "Saturday Night Live." We all know Al Franken.
BALDWIN: Of course.
BORGER: He's going to crack a few Christine O'Donnell jokes, but the problem is we're not going to get to hear them if he does because it's closed to the press. He's going to try and raise some money for the Democrat there.
BALDWIN: Oh. No fun. No fun.
(LAUGHTER)
BORGER: No fun for us.
BALDWIN: Gloria, thank you. BORGER: Sure. Sure.
BALDWIN: Always great to get the latest from the "Political Ticker" and Ms. Borger.
By the way, you can get the latest update. We're going to get that for you next hour.
And you can get the latest political news. Go online, CNNPolitics..com. Boy, they're Twitter hip. Of course they are. That is @PoliticalTicker.
Now look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPECIALIST ALAN CARROLL, U.S. ARMY: I get nightmares and stuff a lot, but, I mean, I'm used to it by now. So I know it's not real, I know it's not happening anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Nightmares a lot. You wonder why? That's because that young man survived that mass shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.
Now you want to know where he is? He's deployed to a real war zone -- again. His story ahead.
Also, a family's home just burns on down to the ground. Did it have anything to do with the fee they didn't pay to their local firefighters? Could it be? No.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: A military member attached to the NATO-led force in Afghanistan was killed today in an explosion in the southern part of the country. No confirmation yet as to the service member's nationality, but by our count, this was the fifth straight day that NATO troops or convoys have been attacked in either Pakistan or Afghanistan.
CNN's Ivan Watson is in Kandahar today, where he met an American soldier already wounded several times. And that was even before he was deployed to combat overseas. You see, his story goes back almost a year to a deadly day at Fort Hood, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some of the soldiers fighting this war are survivors of one of the deadliest domestic shooting incidents in American military history.
(voice-over): A bomb-hunting patrol rolls home in a cloud of dust. Among the road weary troops, Alan Carroll a 21-year-old soldier from New Jersey. He moves with surprising strength and speed. Less than a year ago Carroll was shot four times with a pistol. SPECIALIST ALAN CARROLL, U.S. ARMY: I got hit one right there. And I took one right there. And it came out here. And I took the one in my side and one in my leg.
WATSON: Carroll was wounded not in Afghanistan but at Fort Hood, Texas, during a shooting rampage by a lone gunman last November. At first, Carroll thought the shooting was a joke. Then, after being hit by two bullets, Carroll says he came face to face with the suspected shooter, Major Nidal Hassan.
CARROLL: And me and him just like looked at each other and the only thing you think was (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you know? Damn it, I'm dead. Then he fired off two shots. And apparently the one go past my ear and the other hit me in the leg.
WATSON: By the time the smoke cleared, 13 people were dead. Carroll's company lost three soldiers that day.
CARROLL: It's bumpy.
WATSON: Three months later the company deployed to Afghanistan. Despite his wounds, Carroll was determined to be here with them.
CARROLL: They all said, no, you're not fine, you won't make it. You're not going to make it. I like proving people wrong. It's my thing, I guess.
WATSON: In Afghanistan, the 20th Engineering Battalion hunts roadside bombs. Carroll spent his first six months here operating a one-man bomb sniffing husky vehicle that his sergeant nicknamed "The Coffin". Improvised explosive devices have hit all but one of the vehicles in the platoon including Carroll's.
CARROLL: I had one hit underneath my truck. But it really wasn't that significant. Still scared the crap out of me, but it wasn't really all that crazy.
WATSON: Thanks to armor, Carroll survived.
CARROLL: Kevlar.
WATSON: But Taliban ambushes have claimed victims, including a fellow platoon member who was killed last August.
CARROLL: You.
WATSON: Nine years ago, Alan Carroll was in seventh grade, waiting for a school bus when he first learned about the September 11th attacks. A lot has changed since then.
CARROLL: I get nightmares and stuff a lot. But I mean, I'm used to it by now, so I know it's not real, I know it's not happening anymore. You still wake up sweating and your heart is beating real fast. And as long as you tell yourself, you know, you wake up, and I look around and I see all my friends here and it's just like, all right never mind, go back to sleep. WATSON: Today, these young soldiers are veterans of battles both at home and abroad, with the physical and mental scars to prove it.
(on camera): The soldiers of the 20th Engineering Battalion have received hours of counseling and therapy, and now say they just want to leave the Fort Hood shooting behind them. Their officers say their true test of their emotional and mental health will come when they return home from Afghanistan after their dangerous tour of duty.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: A little closer here to home, before this house -- you're looking at it over my shoulder -- before it burned, the desperate homeowners picked up the phone. They called 911 more than once.
Why the slow response? Some say it is because the family didn't pay a bill, a $75 bill.
That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Firefighters, they stand behind a burning house and they do nothing. This home is in rural Tennessee. It totally burns to the ground. The family loses everything they own, including the cats, the dogs.
So what is going on? Why aren't the firefighters fighting the fire? Well, here's the deal.
The Cranick family lives outside of the city limits of South Fulton. This is northwest Tennessee. You hear me? I said outside the city limits. So that means that to get the fire department to come in from the city, to get that protection for their rural home, they have to pay the $75 fire protection fee.
You see, this year they say they forgot to pay it. But that didn't matter. The fire department, believe it or not, actually did show up, not to fight the fire at the house, to make sure the fire didn't spread next door to the house whose homeowners did pay that fee.
I want you to listen here to what the homeowner and the mayor both say about this whole ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENE CRANICK, HOMEOWNER: I thought they'd come out and put it out, even if you hasn't paid your $75. But I was wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR DAVID CROCKER, SOUTH FULTON, TENNESSEE: Anybody that's not inside the city limits of South Fulton, it's a service that we offer. Either they accept it or they don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, the mayor also says he is very sorry the Cranicks' home burned. The city manager says fire crews did exactly what they were supposed to do, but he also says the county government has been looking at the issue of this rural fire protection for a couple of years. Apparently, this has been in place for, like, 20 years or so since a similar incident had happened, trying to figure out really a better way to deal with this whole thing.
Listen to this though. As for the city's fire chief, he is recovering. You ask, why is he recovering? After being assaulted at the fire station. Police say some guy related to the Cranicks "cold- cocked" the fire chief after the house burned down.
Now we want to go to Chile. I love this story. We've got some great news for you.
We're 500 feet of dirt and rock that's really all that separates those trapped miners from their freedom. This is obviously a huge development today. That means they could be out of there in a matter of days.
Remember, if you've been following this whole story the last two months here, we've been saying they could be down there until Christmas. But the timetable, first it moved up a little bit, maybe they're getting out of there in November. But today, 60 days to the day here since they were trapped down there, we're getting word that a drill could break through to their underground prison in a couple of days.
But getting those 33 men out of there, going to be a little complicated and also very, very dangerous. So this is how they'll get pulled to safety.
See this capsule? This is what they call the Phoenix.
Just imagine being crammed into this thing. Size-wise, it's six- and-a-half feet tall, 21 inches wide. So can we say claustrophobic?
Today, at the mine site, the families are marking the 60-day milestone. And our Patrick Oppmann is joining me by phone to talk me through this whole thing.
Patrick, I love the ideas of these guys getting out a couple of days early. What are you hearing?
Oh, there he is, in person and on the phone.
Patrick, what are you hearing in terms of a timetable of getting these guys out?
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're hearing on the timetable (INAUDIBLE).
BALDWIN: Patrick, can you hold the phone up? Can you hold the phone up? Because that's how we're going to hear you.
OPPMANN: -- end of October.
BALDWIN: Oh, hang on.
I know Patrick is talking. We're going to cut him off, because we're going to go to break and we're going to try to fix this.
Stay right there. We're going to talk to Patrick Oppmann in Chile. I promise. Stay there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: I promised you Patrick Oppmann in Chile. We're working on it.
Meantime, we're going to move on.
What are the chances that a global struggle so deadly, so complex and so longstanding as the Israeli/Palestinian conflict could possibly be resolved, or at least eased by something so simple, so common as a love for the ocean and a common love of surfing? This is a notion that's hard to take seriously, but a bunch of guys bringing warring sides closer together in Israel and in Gaza. They say people who surf, they don't want to fight.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT OLSEN, SURFING FOR PEACE: My name is Matt Olsen. I'm a member of the Surfing for Peace community.
ALEXANDER KLEIN, DIRECTOR, GOD WENT SURFING WITH THE DEVIL: My name is Alexander Klein. I'm the director of God Went Surfing With the Devil.
OLSEN: There's such a huge population of surfers in Israel. And next door, in Gaza, there are so few. But we share the same waves, literally the same waves.
The same waves that hit Gaza hit Israel just a few miles to the north. You can at least share resources if we can't share the experience of, say, riding a wave together, which is the ultimate form of sharing for a surfer.
KLEIN: So, by getting these guys on Gaza surfboards, it gives them a huge reason to live and something to be excited about every day. And guys who surf, they don't want to fight. They don't want to deal with violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think about the plan to bring surfboards to Gaza? EFRAIIM SNEH, FOUNDER OF YISRAEL HAZAKA PARTY: When Hamas is out it's an excellent idea. We find many surfers in Gaza. So the Gazans love the sea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are always at the beach. We love the sea and always think about the sea.
OLSEN: So when they heard of an opportunity where surfboards were needed across the border, with neighbors, essentially, we said, well, we have to help out. It doesn't matter what the politics are behind it.
For two years, we've been trying to get the shipment of surfboards in. And surfboards have been on the list of prohibited goods under the conditions of the Israeli embargo on the Gaza Strip.
KLEIN: I talked yesterday with my contact at the (INAUDIBLE) center about permits, and she says she's still in the process of she needed some more information, birthdays and stuff like that. So I gave her all that stuff and she said she's not optimistic about it.
OLSEN: Literally, overnight, in the course of 24 hours, we went from absolute denial of permission to full permission and expedited process, all the paperwork ready to go. And they were on a truck on their way into Gaza.
It was something that was pretty overwhelming for me. I know a lot of the surfers were pretty choked up when they got the boards because they literally couldn't believe that this had happened.
KLEIN: I think if a guy has a surfboard in his hand, there's no way he's going to drop that surfboard to pick up a rifle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't ask anything about politics. And you are an Arab, you are a Jew, we don't speak about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's great about creating surfers in Gaza is it has a ripple effect too. They bring their cousins in and their families in. And they bring other guys out surfing, and those guys get stoked and want to surf.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have my own board. I borrow boards from others. If I had my own board, I'd go to the beach.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no animosity towards Israel with any of the Palestinian surfers. They all wanted to travel there, they all wanted to surf there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to take time to achieve peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love each other in the water. It's not like out of the water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both sides want peace, and I think the surfers really are beacons of life. Hopefully one day people will be surfing from Israel into Gaza and vice versa. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Israel, Palestine and surfing. Who would have thunk?
A candidate for the U.S. Senate has taken out an ad to try to assure voters she's not a witch. We're of course talking about Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell.
Here she is. Here's that new ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL (R), DELAWARE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not a witch. I'm nothing you've heard. I'm you. None of us are perfect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer joining me from Washington to talk me through this ad.
Wolf, I get it. She's saying, I am you. She's trying to be relatable to the voters.
Are we seeing more of a coordinated effort here from the Republicans to try to appear relatable?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right. It's obvious that a lot of these candidates who have some flaws, some mistakes, some problems in their background, they're saying, you know what? All of us have these kinds of mistakes. We all have to deal with them and then we move on.
They're trying to show that they're real people, that they come from the same kind of backgrounds as all of us do. And as a result, we should trust them. They understand where we're coming from, where they're coming from.
And that's certainly at the bottom of this new ad from Christine O'Donnell in Delaware. And you know, when you start off an ad, as Bill Maher says, with the words, "I am not a witch," that's going to grab attention, which it's certainly doing.
BALDWIN: Also today, the first lady grabbing some attention. She's out actually fund-raising. If you look at some of the numbers, some of the polls, she's a little bit more popular than her husband.
So, Wolf, is this idea of getting the flutist (ph) out and about, fund-raising, is it a good move?
BLITZER: It's a very good move. She's very popular, the first lady of the United States. And she can energize that base, she can energize some young people.
She can bring in a lot of women voters. So the more she gets involved in this, and knowing that she is the first lady, so there has to be a certain restraint, if you will, in terms of not getting too partisan, but the more that she does it, the more maybe that gap that the Democrats are suffering from right now, the enthusiasm gap, that can be narrowed.
We're seeing a little bit of narrowing, a slight narrowing right now. There's exactly four weeks to go, so it's still possible. A lot of stuff can happen between now and November 2nd.
And let's not forget, voting is already starting. It's not just going to be on November 2nd. There's going to be early voting all over the country. So people are getting ready to vote, if they're not voting yet.
BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer, thank you. We'll see you at 5:00 on "THE SITUATION ROOM."
Meantime, be right back. I promised that update. We're getting that update from Chile. Stand by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Back to Chile. We're hearing it could be the end of this week and into the next week when they finally get that drill hole through, start putting that capsule down, and rescue those 33 guys.
Patrick Oppmann is in Chile. He's on the phone.
Patrick, walk me through the process. How do they figure out which guy gets to go first, and how long is that going to take?
OPPMANN: You know, that's an excellent question, and one that's creating some waves here, because officials have come out and said that while they haven't decided exactly who gets to go first, it will be the healthiest of the men. And their decision for that is just the healthiest men, the ones who are in the best shape mentally and physically, will be able to get in that capsule quicker, have less trouble going up the hour it could take to get them to the surface.
And less likely to slow down the process for everybody. So, initially, it will be those men who they've decided are the best candidates to go up.
And it's going to be a harrowing ride, Brooke. Even though the final moments of these men's captivity, it's going to be just an ordeal getting them to the top, to stand for anywhere between a half an hour to an hour. They've done special exercises to sort of prepare them for this.
But once they've reached through that hole, they'll be in a steel casing. They'll start a program of testing out the capsule, putting it down that hole to make sure that there are no snag points, there are no point where the capsule could get hung up.
And then, eventually, two rescue workers will take the trip down into the hole, start the rescue operation, and there will be rescue workers down there for the entire duration of the rescue from the last moment of this mine disaster. It will be 35, not 33 men down --
BALDWIN: Patrick Oppmann, thank you so much. Apologies. Got to go. Got "THE SITUATION ROOM" here in just about 30 seconds.
But just to finish, 35 men. They're going to have to give them shots, sedatives. Imagine going up in that teeny, tiny capsule.
Of course we will be there. We'll be live when they do that.
Meantime, "THE SITUATION ROOM," Wolf Blitzer right now.
