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Dental Patients Get HIV Tests; Required to Own a Gun; Reagan Shooting Anniversary; Monroe Letter Auctioned
Aired March 30, 2013 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Seven thousand people once patients of the same dentist now scheduled to be tested. And they may have hepatitis, even HIV.
One town may soon require its residents to carry guns.
It was 32 years ago today that John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. Hear from the man that took a bullet for Reagan and may have saved his life.
Marilyn Monroe's suicidal letters, John Lennon's message for Paul McCartney, and Dwight Eisenhower's love notes, all up on the auction block.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Welcome, everyone. I'm Don Lemon.
Hardly any of us likes to go to the dentist, of course, and a lot of people dread it and even fear it. And while we may not like it we trust our dentist to be competent and professional. But a story coming to us tonight from Oklahoma represents the worst possible nightmare for a lot of people. Former dental patients of Dr. Scott Harrington, more than 400 of them, were tested today for HIV and hepatitis. They are among thousands of patients who may have been exposed to hepatitis or even HIV through visits to Harrington's office.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Tulsa with more -- Susan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, hundreds of patients began lining up today outside the health department here to be tested after dental inspectors in Oklahoma found what they call deplorable conditions at the office of Scott Harrington. He's an oral surgeon.
For example, they said he was using expired drugs and dental instruments that were rusty, and all of this began after health authorities found a patient tested positive for HIV and hepatitis C. He later tested negative for HIV, but, still, they are worried about a possibility of cross-contamination.
Well, as you can imagine, patients are angry at Dr. Harrington and they are very worried. We talked to one of his patients. MARISSA SMITH, PATIENT: HIV and hepatitis B, and hepatitis C are really hard things to live with. You know, if I get sick, like, I could be sick for a long time, you know. I just -- it just freaks me out a little knowing that this could kill me. CANDIOTTI: Do you think he should be charged criminally?
MELISSA WOOD, MARISSA'S MOM: If all of this turns out to be the case, I don't think he should be allowed to practice anymore. You know, as far as criminal charges, you know, I don't know what will happen with that. But, you know, how do you say you are sorry to 7,000 people that you could possibly have infected?
CANDIOTTI: Right now, Dr. Harrington faces 17 complaints filed by the state dentistry board, and the local D.A. is currently considering whether or not to file criminal charges. Evidence is still being gathered.
So far, Dr. Harrington has said nothing publicly.
Don, back to you.
LEMON: All right. Susan, thank you.
An 86-year-old Arizona man adored his ailing wife so much he agreed to end her life. George Sanders was sentenced to probation yesterday for shooting and killing his wife of 64 years. His wife, Virginia, was battling multiple sclerosis and had gangrene in one foot and she begged him to end her life saying she didn't want to live anymore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE SANDERS, SENTENCED TO PROBATION FOR "MERCY KILLING": What do you do when you get our age, and they are going to tuck one of you away somewhere and you have been together all these years, and it's just it's a terrible thing to have to face. And then to be found guilty of a crime, and -- it's wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: His family tearfully asked the judge to show compassion after Sanders pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
A 10-year-old and 11-year-old will be tried for conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly planning to hurting seven classmates at their elementary school. Washington state law says children their age should not be tried for crimes like this, but that can be set aside with evidence. And the judge says that's the case here.
Court documents say the boys have confessed to plotting to harm their classmates and that the boss brought a knife, a gun and ammunition to the school.
Well, a leading Iowa newspaper is under fire for publishing a map this week that showed which schools have security officers and which do not. "The Des Moines Register" editor defended the article, saying they were just trying to bring attention to the issue of school safety. But readers complained and the article was taken off the web after 30 minutes.
With all the debate over gun laws in the country, one small town in Georgia may be looking to end the debate there with its new law. If it passes, a council vote Monday, gun ownership will be mandatory.
CNN's Victor Blackwell has the details for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHIEF HEATH MITCHELL, NELSON GEORGIA POLICE: This is a town that Norman Rockwell would want to paint a picture of.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nelson, Georgia, 50 miles north of Atlanta, it's a snapshot of small town, Americana, grazing cows, small white churches and a very small police department.
(on camera): You are the chief of police here in Nelson.
MITCHELL: Yes.
BLACKWELL: But it's really just you in the department?
MITCHELL: Right now, it's just me.
BLACKWELL (voice over): Chief Heath Mitchell has not worked a single major crime in his three years on the job.
MITCHELL: It's just normal minor thefts, some burglaries.
BLACKWELL: No gun crimes, but soon owning a gun in this town of 14,000 may become not just a right, but a requirement. Every head of household in Nelson would have to own a gun and ammunition.
EDITH PORTILLO, NELSON GEORGIA CITY COUNCIL: It's a deterrent kind of law.
BLACKWELL: Every member of the Nelson City Council supports the Family Protection Ordinance, as it's known. Councilwoman Edith Portillo believes it will scare off would-be criminals if it becomes law April 1st.
PORTILLO: It's like when you have, you know, the security, the ADT in front of your homes, we are protected by an alarm or whatever, which the majority of places don't have it.
BLACKWELL (on camera): Nelson would not be the first town in America to pass a mandatory gun ownership law, it wouldn't even be the first town in Georgia. The Nelson ordinance is a direct copy of a law passed here in Kennesaw, Georgia, in 1982.
Now, there's no way to accurately measure its affect on public safety, although historically, crime rates here have been low, and Nelson also copies Kennesaw's exemptions for felons, the mentally ill and people who object to owning a gun for personal or any other belief. And Nelson also says they will not enforce the new law.
So, what's the point?
PORTILLO: Georgians don't full around with their guns. And don't have the government tell them what to do and what not to do.
BLACKWELL (voice-over): The proposed law is part of a campaign led by the local chapter of the Tea Party Patriots to protect the Second Amendment rights.
BILL MCNIFF, CANTON GEORGIA TEA PARTY: We want to take this countywide, and then statewide to other counties, and to other states.
BLACKWELL: Lamar Kellett has lived in Nelson for nearly 20 years. He calls it a sham.
LAMAR KELLETT, NELSON, GEORGIA RESIDENT: This is not about the Second Amendment. They keep trying to make it be Second Amendment issue, but it's not.
BLACKWELL (on camera): What is it about?
KELLETT: Publicity.
CODY FITTS, MANAGER APPALACHIAN GUN & PAWN: We're selling probably 10-15 guns a day.
BLACKWELL (voice over): Some people in Nelson buy their guns at Appalachian Gun and Pawn, the profits skyrocketed recently, and manager Cody Fits thanks one man.
FITTS: I honestly believe that the commander-in-chief has raised the prices. He is trying to enforce the gun ban, everybody is worried about losing their guns. So now they are buying more and more and more.
BLACKWELL (on camera): Do you think the federal government is coming for your guns?
(LAUGHTER)
KELLETT: I really do not. I can own a gun without this ordinance, and I can protect my home without this ordinance. So why have an ordinance? It's not worth anything.
BLACKWELL (voice over): A small southern town, now at the center of a gun fight.
PORTILLO: Will it be safer? I think that it will give them a little, you know, hey, look what we have done in our little town, and, you know, we could keep our guns.
BLACKWELL: Victor Blackwell, CNN, Nelson, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: The world has lost a legendary music producer. Phil Ramone died today at the age of 72. He was much more than a producer. Ramone was a visionary who made technical innovations to compact disc and surround sound.
Stevie Wonder called Ramone the star of stars behind stars. And he wasn't the only star mourning Ramone. On Twitter, Billy Joel wrote, "I have lost a dear friend -- and my greatest mentor. The music world lost a giant today." While Aretha Franklin said, "This is so shocking, truly one of the great names in music has gone on, but the melodies will remain."
Thirty-two years ago today, John Hinckley stalked President Ronald Reagan and attempted to kill him. Next, meet the man who was crucial in saving the president's life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: North Korea has left no doubt about it. Listen to this announcement made by state television today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): From this time on the North-South relations will be entering the state of war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That proclamation comes after weeks of threats from the North to launch military attacks against South Korean and U.S. targets.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. National Security Council says, quote, "We take these threats seriously and remain in close contact with our South Korean allies. But we would also note that North Korea has a long history of bellicose rhetoric and threats and today's announcement follows that familiar pattern."
Congress may be one step closer to an agreement on immigration reform. A bipartisan group of eight senators has been trying to find a compromise. Now business and labor leaders agreed on a plan to create a new visa for guest workers. The visa would affect housekeepers, landscapers, retail workers and some construction workers.
I want you to look now at who stopped by the first Elite 8 game in the NCAA basketball tournament. Who is that guy? Oh, it's President Barack Obama. He saw Syracuse knock off Marquette in person in Washington. The Orange men are the first to qualify for the final four and the president was joined by his former aide Reggie Love who was on the Duke team that won the tournament in 2001.
How are my brackets doing? Don't ask.
President Ronald Reagan was shot 32 years ago today. The assassination attempt was captured on camera. A Secret Service agent threw himself between the president and the gunman and took a bullet intended for the president. That fateful day shook the nation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TV ANCHOR: We interrupt, there's been a late development. Shots reported fired outside the hotel where President Reagan spoke a short a while ago.
TIM MCCARTHY, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT TO PRES. REAGAN: You never dream that you're going to be in this situation. You train intensely. There's a reason for doing it, and frankly, I never thought it would happen to me. I think what I am most grateful for, that we're all human out there doing this type of work, which requires split second decisions, and I am thankful on that particular day, I was able to do what I was trained to do.
REPORTER: Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy was standing at the door of President Reagan's limousine when that flurry of shots rang out, and reacting as he had been trained, agent McCarthy he placed himself between the gunman and the president, and took a bullet on the chest.
MCCARTHY: I was trolling (ph) and looking at the crowd, that's as the president was waving, and the shots rang out and turned towards the direction which I thought the shots were coming and I thought that luck of the Irish would hold up just a little bit longer, which is intend to do (ph) and, of course, I was hit in the right chest.
It went down through the long liver diaphragm and ended at my lower back. I get out in the hospital in about two weeks, and I didn't want this to end my career. So it was almost a challenge to get back as soon as I could. So, less than three months later, I was back on the presidential protective position, and served another year and a half with President Reagan.
When I look back at the video, I'm almost emotionless because I've seen it so many times. But every now and again, you think about it and consequences for country. And more importantly to me even was to my family and what the consequences would have been if it come out a little bit differently. A lot of people played an awful lot of key roles that day that led to the fact that the president lived.
If Jerry didn't quickly push the president into the car, covered him and make -- assess the president's condition, and actually determined that when he found an injury to get him to the hospital right away, and that could have bench different also. You could say the same about Ray Shaddick, who was the agent on his left shoulder, and the agents that grabbed and the civilian that helped John Hinckley.
But, you know, there was also, we have to admit, there's a little bit of failure, too, that John Hinckley got six shots off and the president was injured at all. Our goal would be that the president is never injured, and so many security measures were changed after that that would help mitigate that type of attack by the lone gunman, and it's no coincidence that since that time, there's not been an attack on the president by a lone gunman. (END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, gunman John Hinckley, Jr., was mentally disturbed, saying he shot the president to impress actress, Jodie Foster. Don't miss our special program tonight, "CNN PRESENTS", "Stalker: The Reagan Shooting". Tonight, 8:00, right here on CNN.
Thirty-two years ago today. Time flies.
Just ahead --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROTESTERS: Save our schools! Save our schools! Save our schools --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Protesters in Chicago trying to keep 54 public schools from closing their doors. Coming up, hear from the woman in charge of those schools. She'll will tell us if she plans to back down and what will happen to the 1,100 teachers whose jobs may be in jeopardy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: This passed week, hundreds of angry protesters hit the streets of Chicago. Their demand? Call off the planned closings of more than 50 schools.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROTESTERS: Save our community! Save our community!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: District officials say the deal with a $1 billion debt crisis, they plan on closing schools which don't have enough students. Some teachers worry this will cause a safety issue. They say children should go to school where they live and not in a different neighborhood.
Earlier, I spoke with Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA BYRD-BENNETT, CEO, CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS: People are concerned, pained, angry. After all, you know, schools are the heart of what people find is their foundation in their neighborhood, and I understand that. However, at the end of the day, we really have to recognize the fact that we have a number of underutilized schools, that are underresourced and as a result, our children are under achieving.
LEMON: Of the school that you mentioned, all of them are in minority neighborhoods, south and west sides of Chicago. There have been calls of racism, saying, you know, you are doing this, you are killing the black community.
Why those schools -- are those schools, do they just happen to be the schools that are underperforming and underutilized in those neighborhoods, there's no race involved in this?
BYRD-BENNETT: Sure. So, here are the facts, that over the last decade, per the U.S. Census, we have lost 181,000 African-American residents to our city, and that impact has had a 65 percent on utilizations, school utilization. People on the west side and the south side simply have made some decisions, have either moved to the suburbs, have moved out of the state, and we have a number of schools in those particular communities which are underutilized and therefore underresourced.
And I would also argue that many of those buildings have not made warm, safe and dry for our children. To relegate our children and to continue to have them trapped, particularly our African-American students in those neighborhoods and in those schools, it's not something that we want to happen. We want to make sure that our children move to a higher performing school with the resources that teachers need and the tools they need to be successful.
LEMON: If you don't enough students to fill the schools, that means it's going to affect the staff, it's going to affect teachers. Are you going to let teachers go or are you keeping the teachers employed?
BYRD-BENNETT: So, when we took a look at the number of teachers who are actually employed in the schools that have been identified and recommended to the board, it's about 1,100 teachers. And in our most recent negotiations and agreement with CTU, our tenured teachers who are rated excellent and proficient will move with children to the welcoming schools.
LEMON: I just want to be clear -- some people are going to lose their jobs?
BYRD-BENNETT: Some teachers may not follow students to the schools that they currently will be to -- the welcoming schools. Will there be some falloff? There could be. I can't predict that now.
But, again, this is really about -- I feel for people with their jobs, obviously, but it's the foremost and at the center of what we are doing is really making decisions about what will be a better quality of edge for our children.
LEMON: So, you're going to take the money from those schools, and if there are, as you say, falloff, which is people who are probably not going to be working anymore, you're going to reinvest that money into libraries and other resources?
BYRD-BENNETT: All of our classrooms are air-conditioned, that there's a library in every school, the children in grade 3 through 8 have access to 21st century technology, including iPads and laptops, that are computer labs and our science labs are ready for children who will now have academic programs that focus on STEM or IB. LEMON: Barbara Byrd, thank you for your time.
BYRD-BENNETT: Thank you. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Coming up, Marilyn Monroe's suicide letter, John Lennon's message for Paul McCartney, and Dwight Eisenhower's love notes, all up on the auction block.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Some amazing pieces of modern history going up for auction. It includes 300 letters and other historical documents. A letter from John Lennon to Eric Clapton is expected to pitch from $20,000 to $30,000. An angry note from Lennon to Paul McCartney could sell for twice that. You can also buy former President Dwight Eisenhower's heartfelt love letters to his wife Mamie during World War II. And finally, one of the last letters written by Marilyn Monroe that explains the depression she felt before committing suicide. The auction is set for May 30th.
"Marriage Warriors: Showdown at the Supreme Court" begins right after this.
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