Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Oklahoma Dentist's Patients Being Tested For Hepatitis And HIV; Phil Ramone Dead At 72; Pope Francis Celebrates Special Easter Vigil Mass At Vatican

Aired March 30, 2013 - 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: Seven thousand people, once patients of the same dentist, now being tested. They may have hepatitis or even HIV.

A shocking road rage brawl caught on tape, fists and bullets.

The Pope shows off one of the Catholic Church's most sacred and guarded relics.

And Marilyn Monroe's suicide letter, John Lennon message for Paul McCartney all up on the auction block.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We are going to begin with this tonight. Going to the dentist isn't supposed to be fun. It's not supposed to be dangerous either. But a lot of people in Oklahoma tonight are wondering if past trips to the longtime Tulsa dentist may be a threat to their health.

Former patients of Dr. Scott Harrington, more than 400 of them, were tested for hepatitis and HIV, they are among the thousands of Harrington's patients who may have been exposed to hepatitis or even HIV through visits to his office.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is in Tulsa with more tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not the way Marisa Smith hoped to celebrate her 18th birthday, a trip with her dad to the Tulsa health department.

You are about to go in to get tested. What are your emotions right now?

MARISSA SMITH. PATIENT: I'm pretty nervous. You know, I don't like needles. I don't like really testing. And after this whole ordeal, I just want to be clean.

CANDIOTTI: Free from hepatitis B and C and HIV. Smith is one of oral surgeon's Scott Harrington's 7,000 patients who might have been exposed to those viruses because of what Oklahoma investigators called risky practices by the doctor and his staff.

SMITH: It makes my skin crawl. I think it's horrifying.

CANDIOTTI: Marissa's mom says Doctor Harrington took out her daughter's wisdom teeth in June 2011.

What do you remember about getting your wisdom teeth out?

SMITH: I just thought, you know, he was a really nice guy, like there wasn't going to be any problems. Obviously, now I don't really feel like that.

CANDIOTTI: Melissa is a nurse and understands the risk of infection is low but she's infuriated.

MELISSA WOOD, MARISSA SMITH'S MOTHER: I'm angry. You know, I feel like he's kind of let us down. I feel like he's let a lot of people down.

CANDIOTTI: Dr. Harrington wasn't home when he visited. Both he and his lawyer aren't returning repeated calls. This woman, who would only identify herself as a friend and a patient, dropped off an Easter lily. But unlike hundreds getting tested, she won't telling me, quote, "I trust him."

This neighbor says he's known Harrington for years.

When you heard about these charges, the complaint against him by the board of dentistry, what did you make of it?

FRANK DALE, NEIGHBOR: Couldn't believe it. He seems highly competent to me. He is a smart guy. And I was shocked when I heard it. And I feel badly for him. I feel badly for his patients. I really hope there's another explanation.

CANDIOTTI: An explanation for state board of dentistry allegations of expired drugs, suspected unsanitary equipment, including rusty instruments and unlicensed dental assistants administering IV sedation which authorities say is a felony.

SMITH: It's scared me so badly that I'm just always going to be always thinking about that, like every time I go to the dentist.

CANDIOTTI: So far, no criminal charges against Harrington, seen in this picture from the '70s, or his assistants.

WOOD: You know, how do you say you are sorry to 7,000 people that you could possibly have infected? I just don't think he can.

CANDIOTTI: Marissa, petrified of needles, waited three hours to have her blood drawn.

SMITH: I will never forget my 18th birthday present being a blood test.

CANDIOTTI: Her perfect present would be a clean bill of health. But she won't get test results for another two to three weeks.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Tulsa, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: 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 have agreed on a plan to create new visa for guest workers. The visa would affect Housekeepers, landscapers, retail workers and some construction workers.

North Korea has left no doubt about it. Listen to this announcement made on 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."

The world has lost a legendary music producer. Phil Ramone died today at the age of 72. He was much more than a music producer though. Ramone was a visionary who made technical innovations to compact discs and surround sounds. Stevie Wonder called the Ramone, the star of - Phil Ramone, the star of stars behind the stars. And he wasn't the only star mourning Ramone today.

On Twitter, Billy Joel this, "I have lost a dear friend and my greatest mentor. The music world lost a giant today."

Aretha Franklin had this to say, "This is so shocking, truly one of the great names in music has gone on, but the melodies will remain."

Pope Francis just a few hours away from his first Easter greeting today, the new leader of the Catholic Church celebrated a special Easter vigil mass at the Vatican. Tomorrow, thousands are expected to pack St. Peter ease square to hear the Pope's first Easter mass.

Meanwhile, one of the most famous religious relics made an appearance this weekend.

Jim Bittermann explains that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A little earlier this evening up in Turin, the shroud of Turin, which some people believe, it was the shroud that was used to bury Christ. There was a mass held in the Turin cathedral. And, as part of the mass, the shroud of Turin was unveiled. This happens practically every Easter that there are somehow or another, the shroud of Turin comes into the news because a lot of people believe that it is an important relic in the church. The church doesn't take a point on this either way, whether this is really the burial cloth that was surrounding the body of Jesus when he was buried.

One of the things that happened coincidentally with the mass there today was a book has come out by a researcher at (INAUDIBLE) University. He says that he was able to establish with some certainty that the linen cloth could indeed come from that time period. Other people have said it did not.

Other thing that also happened in connection with that -- again, coincidentally, was this app that's come out for iPhones and high- definition app which you can download on the network -- on the web. And in fact, it has high definition photos of the shroud which you can examine at home and make your own conclusions.

The Easter weekend here will continue with celebrations tomorrow on Easter as hundreds of thousands of people are expected to crowd into St. Peter's square for what is the high point of the Easter weekend, and that is the papal mass at St. Peter's.

Jim Bittermann, CNN. Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, Jim. Thank you very much.

Your Easter may be a bit soggy. You may need an umbrella and a light shower if you are attending services.

Alexandra Steele tracking tomorrow's weather forecast for us -- Alexandra.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Don.

Looking ahead at Easter, take a look at what we have got. Along the eastern seaboard and in the southeast, really unsettled, the rain makes it to Washington and New York in the afternoon. So morning services, you should be OK. And also Easter egg hunts will be fine, northwest as well.

But northern California on Easter gets into some rain. In terms of the temperatures tomorrow, a right around of an average here in the southeast. Temperatures finally getting to normal. But enjoy it because we are going to watch the next arctic shot of air come in. And actually, we have a very cold week coming up. It really begins on Monday. And then, the week will be a cold one -- Don?

LEMON: All right. Thank you, Alexandra.

Coming up, a violent case of road rage caught on tape. And it gets even scarier. Someone is about to pull out a gun. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A newspaper in Iowa, under fire for publishing a map this week that showed which schools have security officers and which do not. The Des Moines Register's 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.

After more than three decades of essentially hiding in plain sight, a convicted rapist is back in jail. Gary Irving fled after his 1978 conviction in Massachusetts. He eventually settled in Maine just 130 miles away and went by a different first name. That was enough to avoid police until Wednesday when he was arrested. A newspaper reports a relative turned him in. Irving is due back in court on Monday.

Two fifth-graders will be tried for conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly plotting to hurt seven classmates at their elementary school. Washington state law says children their age shouldn't be tried for crimes like this. But an exception to the law permits a trial under certain circumstances. Court documents say the boys, ages 10 and 11, have confessed to plotting to harm their classmates and that they brought a knife and gun with ammunition to the school.

We've all had a bit of road rage, right? But not like this. Look.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

LEMON: Bradley Turner and his wife, you will see her in just a moment, they say two guys in the truck tried to run them off the road in North Carolina. Now, in the video, Turner confronts him, apparently starting the fight. The two men hop out. Fists are flying. Turner's wife, there she is, who seems a tad overdressed for the party, for this party, hands him a gun which he fires as the other two take off. Turner and his wife now face assault and weapons charges.

Earlier I spoke with attorney Holly Hughes and asked her if the couple could possibly claim self-defense.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: They can't claim self- defense because the threat was over. We see these men running away, getting into their vehicle before he fires those shots. So, at this point, he is looking at anywhere from very serious felony charges like aggravated assault, which is firing a weapon at, toward or in the direction of someone. Or he can be facing something as slight as discharging a firearm within city limits. It's really going to depend on the charging authorities and who they think started this entire fight. But you can't meet fistfight with a gun. That is unequal force. It's not the same thing.

LEMON: Well, it shows him instigating it, I mean. But what about the two guys who beat him up? Do they bear any responsibility here, Holly?

HUGHES: Well, absolutely. And they should be charged with their own charges. They are probably looking at battery charges, assault charges and depending on how much damage was done. They could even be facing aggravated assault which would take it out of the misdemeanor rank and put it up into the felony rank. Everybody here needs to be charge with something, Don. It's just a broad range of possibilities.

LEMON: OK. So, they bear responsibility because he tried -- they tried to run him off the road. And then he instigated the fight. And he just walked up on them, let's say this -- this is a question I want to know.

Had he just walked up on these guys and instigated the fight and they had done nothing and these guys beat him down, then do they bear any responsibility or are they just defending themselves?

HUGHES: Well, if he takes a swing at them, then, they are defending themselves. But if he's going up with words kind of saying, why did you run me off the road, what is happening here, what is going on, depends on who took the first swing. Because, you know, road rage, we all have it. But most of us don't get out of our vehicles and go up and start a physical confrontation. We just think, thank God they didn't have a gun and are shooting at me, right?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: My thanks to Holly Hughes.

A college in Boston told to stop distributing condoms or face disciplinary action. But some students are fighting back. That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We are halfway to college basketball's final four. My brackets are completely kaput. Syracuse became the first to punch its ticket to Atlanta tonight. The Orange men beat Marquette 55-39. By the way, you saw the president there, right? Next weekend, they will play in the semi-finally gets the weather of tomorrow's gain between Michigan and Florida and the Wichita State shockers lead up to their nickname beating Ohio State, 70-66, tonight to advance. It's Wichita's first trip to the final four since 1965. They will play the winner of tomorrow's Louisville/Duke game.

A major university, demanding that students stop handing out condoms on campus, Boston College says condom giveaways violate the school's catholic mission. A student group is planning to defy the school's order and keep distributing free condoms.

Our senior medical correspondent is Miss Elizabeth Cohen and she has the story in Newton, Massachusetts.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, Catholic doctrine doesn't support using contraception, but for some Boston College students, that teaching is not resonating. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN (voice-over): Boston College, a deeply Catholic institution, where crosses don't go well with condoms.

Senior, (INAUDIBLE), has organized a condom distribution network on public street corners and in dorm rooms marked with this safe site symbol. If you're in need of condoms, you may knock on one of these doors and just ask, the group's Web site says.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We go through almost 2,000 condoms every semester for students that need them. It's very much important need here.

COHEN: And that is getting these students in trouble. Boston College sent this letter to the students demanding that they stop distributing condoms here, the letter said, isn't in concert with the mission of Boston College as a catholic and Jesuit university. And if you don't stop, they said, there could be disciplinary action.

Jack Dunn is a spokesman for Boston College. You know the students here are having sex.

JACK DUNN, SPOKESMAN, BOSTON COLLEGE: Right. And if students want to purchase condoms and have them available for their private lives, that's their business. Our issue is, don't try to publicly distribute condoms on our church steps, on our campus, through our dormitories.

COHEN: He says even he was approached while coming out of a church service.

DUNN: A student from this group attempted to hand me a condom. And it was inappropriate. And I saw him. I said, really, (INAUDIBLE) sent you, you really need to do that.

COHEN: But (INAUDIBLE) says the group has never distributed on campus except in dorm rooms. This isn't the first high-profile condom dispute on a catholic campus. In 2009, "the Boston Globe" reported Stone Hill College in Massachusetts confiscated condoms that were being handed out for free in student dormitories.

Dunn says he hopes to sit down when students come back to campus after Easter break. But, Lizzie Jekanowski doesn't seem to be in the mood to talk. She says, this is a health issue stopping unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. And even if B.C. threatens to yank her diploma this spring, she won't stop.

LIZZIE JEKANOWSKI, BOSTON COLLEGE SENIOR: The work we are doing is invaluable and that will not compromise what we're doing in any way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: The Boston College spokesman said if the students distributing condoms had just been more discreet, none of this would have happened. Plus he said, this is Boston, there are plenty of places to buy condoms. Students don't have to get them on campus - Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you, Elizabeth.

The ACLU of Massachusetts says it may take legal action against Boston College.

Coming up, A Marilyn Monroe letter sent right before her suicide and John Lennon's message for Paul McCartney, all up on the auction block.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Some amazing pieces of modern history are going up for auction, including 300 letters and other historical documents. A letter from John Lennon to Eric Clapton is expected to fetch up to 20, maybe $30,000. An angry note from Lennon to Paul McCartney could sell for twice that. And one of the last letters written by Marilyn Monroe that shows the depression she felt before committing suicide, the auction is set for May 30th.

Time now to meet CNN's hero of the week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAWANDA JONES, CNN HERO: Who are we?

It is very hard for children growing up in Camden today. It is dangerous. You can hear gunshots almost every other night. These kids want more. They don't want to be dodging bullets for the rest of their life.

My name is Tawanda Jones and my mission is to empower the youth of Camden New Jersey through the structure of drill team. What I try to do in order for them to go down the right path is simple. You instill discipline.

Come one. Go to the end.

Drill team is the facade to bring the children in because of something they love to do and once I have them, I introduce them to the college life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CSS takes me a whole lot. My dad was shot and killed. My dad passed and I stopped going to class. I started hanging with the wrong people.

JONES: Did you complete your homework? Let me check it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is my second mom. Without her, I really don't know where I would be right now.

JONES: In Camden, the high school graduation rate is 49 percent. But, in my program it is 100 percent graduate. We have never had a dropout. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My grades now, I have a GPA of 3.0. I want to be a sports manager.

JONES: We need to take back our city and most importantly take back our youth, let them know that we really care about them.

I don't think people really understand how important it is to have these children succeed. When we do this, you get great reward. It is better than money.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for watching. See you back here tomorrow night. Good night.