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Weekend Early Start

Turkey on Edge After Days of Unrest; Digging After Deadly Storms; First Look into Hostage-Taker's Bunker

Aired June 02, 2013 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

He calls it the scariest moment of his life, a Weather Channel storm chaser who quickly became the chasee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had this moment where I truly felt like maybe I was going to heaven.

KOSIK: He survived, but his big bad vehicle not so lucky. He joins me this hour to talk about his terrifying moment.

Pelted with pepper spray and targeted with teargas, a brutal police crackdown triggers one of the worst riots turkeys ever seen.

Plus, he says don't fear hell because there isn't one. The Christian minister whose gospel of inclusion got him kicked out of the church.

And he's not just any young Hollywood actor, this guy's got a real mission. Wait until you hear how he's saving one dog at a time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Good morning, everyone. I'm Alison Kosik. It's 8:00. Thanks for starting your morning with us.

First, let's go to Turkey where the streets of major cities there are a little calmer this morning, but it was a very different scene in the past two days. And the U.S. ally is still on edge.

Anti-government protesters clashed with police who sprayed them with water cannons and teargas.

Let's go to our senior international correspondent Ivan Watson in Istanbul, Turkey.

Ivan, how's the situation where you are now? And will these protests have any impact on Turkey's relations with the U.S.?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's a good question. The situation right now, if you can imagine, I'm in Turkey's equivalent of Times Square in Istanbul, the largest city, and some of the demonstrators here you can see have barricaded the entrances to this square. These are people who were fighting against police. Some of them still wearing helmets throughout the day and night on Friday and Saturday.

And we can pan over here. Our cameraman, Joe Duran, is going to show you the square itself, which is now growing -- filled with thousands of demonstrators. There are no riot police here whatsoever since the police finally (AUDIO GAP) after six hours of fighting, after a lot of teargas and water cannons and pepper spray.

Now, the scene here is calm right now. We've got some people both volunteers who are cleaning up some of the debris as well as municipal workers from the city government, but the scene before dawn this morning was still pretty violent in some parts of this city.

We're going to show you some of our video that our cameraman Joe Duran shot about 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m. local time of demonstrators clashing with riot police to give you a sense.

Take a look at this, Alison.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

WATSON: So you should be seeing there some of the clashes that were taking place in parts of Istanbul. The crowds here calling their prime minister, who was elected more than ten years ago to power, who's won a lot of elections and has overseen one of the most unprecedented periods of economic growth for Turkey, they're calling him a dictator and accusing him of acting in authoritarian fashion.

Well, the Turkish prime minister seems to be in a war of words with his own people. He's basically called the crowds here hooligans and accused them of being dictators for breaking the law and for doing vandalism.

So we do not see much compromise right now between the fiery Turkish prime minister, who's a close ally of the U.S. government in the Middle East, and tens of thousands of his own people who have been clashing with security forces not only in Istanbul but in at least another 30 provinces across the country -- Alison.

KOSIK: OK. Ivan Watson in Istanbul, Turkey -- thank you.

Now, let's go to the Midwest and the damage assessment from the strong storms and tornadoes. Check out this video from the airport in Maryland Heights, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis. The security cameras caught the moments the storm blew through Friday night. Missouri is still dealing with flooding. Three people drowned in the southern part of the state.

In Oklahoma, the storms are blamed for nine deaths, two children and seven adults. The worst of the damage came just west of Oklahoma City. That's where our George Howell is today in Union City, Oklahoma. George, I know you've been on the ground since that tornado outbreak began two weeks ago. How widespread is the damage that you're seeing?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Alison -- and good morning. It's hit-or-miss out here, because, you know, we're talking about a storm that just developed over hours over the Oklahoma City area and it would drop funnels randomly in different spots, funnel after funnel.

So you find these areas of damage like this place where we are in Union City on this street, that home really the last home standing on this block because when you look over here, there are no more homes standing. They're all just debris piles.

We know at this point, Alison, that the tornado that came through here, it was an EF-3 tornado. So when you compare what we saw here, an EF-3, the strongest in this storm, to what we saw two weeks ago, the EF-4 tornado in Shawnee that killed two, then the next day that EF-5 tornado in Moore that killed 24 people in that storm system. Those were stronger tornadoes, but this was just such a big storm that stayed parked over the Oklahoma City area for such a long time, you know, it was just as dangerous.

KOSIK: You know, George, between the tornadoes that blew through there Friday and then the tornadoes two weeks ago in Moore, I know that the people in Oklahoma are resilient, but are they a little more weary today, or they still got that fire?

HOWELL: Well, they still have that fire. But I would say that people here have gone through something. I mean, when you talk about this two-week period of tornado warning after tornado warning after tornado watch -- I mean, it's just been one of those situations where people have always kept their -- they're keeping their eye to the sky, keeping in touch with the affiliates and watching these storms cause damage.

Again, when you look at what happened to people in Moore, that's a heavily populated area where this tornado just tore through and hit a school, it left a mark on people here. You remember, Alison, just a few days ago there was a benefit concert to help people, you know, to cope, to get through what happened here.

And here we are again, you know? Here we are again with another storm that came through, caused damage, caused lives to be lost. It's been a difficult two weeks for people here in Oklahoma.

KOSIK: They have been through so much.

George Howell, thank you.

After the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, two weeks ago, people there also got hit by rain in the days after the disaster. So what's it going to be like for people cleaning up around Oklahoma City today?

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is in our severe weather center. Karen, good or bad news?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It looks like it's going to be mixed. The next day and a half looked pretty nice. Today's going to be about 75 degrees, good cleanup weather. Only about a 20 percent chance of some showers coming up from Monday.

But then we start to pick up a rainy pattern going into Tuesday and Wednesday. Each day, temperatures in the 80s with about a 60 percent to 70 percent chance that you'll see some showers and maybe some isolated thunderstorms. So better over the next 36 hours to kind of clean up and get things ready or covered or salvage what you can before the rain starts to move back in again.

But we've got a lot of rivers all the way from Chicago down to Oklahoma that are filling up and could be at moderate to major flood stage all the way from the Cedar River -- and we're looking at Illinois from the Vermilion River, Missouri River, Mississippi.

They're saying right around Alton in St. Louis, at the Mississippi River, that if it gets to the levels that they're expecting, which may be the fourth highest in history, that they could actually close down some of the bridges and various things for navigation there. Showers and thunderstorms into the Northeast, New York and Boston, not so much for today but for this evening. A lot more showers and storms rumble along the Gulf Coast towards Atlanta.

So if you've got destinations to Atlanta, you may see some temporary ground delays. I don't think anything fairly significant.

As I mentioned right around St. Louis, Mississippi River could be at 36 plus feet which would be the fourth highest in history. Across the Central Plains, high pressure and cooler temperatures, sunshine. Hot in the desert southwest, Alison, temperatures in the triple digits.

KOSIK: OK. Karen Maginnis, thank you.

Fans around the world are remembering actress Jean Stapleton, who's past away. Stapleton is best known for her iconic role as TV's Edith Bunker in the '70s sitcom, "All in the Family".

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

KOSIK: And Stapleton's children say that she died Friday of natural causes at her home in New York. She was 90. Later this hour, we're going to take a look back at her distinguished career.

Still ahead, the FBI releases new photos and audio from an underground bunker where a 5-year-old boy was held hostage for almost a week.

Plus, prominent meteorologist Mike Bettes joins us live to share his close brush with death after being hit by a tornado.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on, brother. Hold on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: For the first time we're getting a look inside the underground bunker in Alabama where a man took a little boy hostage for almost a week. And we're now hearing some disturbing recordings of the incident.

CNN's Alina Machado has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is an inside look at the underground bunker where Jimmy Lee Dykes held a 5-year-old boy hostage for six days. Just released photos show Alabama and federal investigators processing the scene.

Here is a picture showing one of two beds. Small flashlights hang on the wall, water bottles are within reach, a notebook and an animal calendar sit on the bed.

The FBI released the photos Saturday, along with audio of a profanity-laced phone call between hostage negotiators and Dykes.

JIMMY LEE DYKES (via telephone): You just go ahead and send something (EXPLETIVE DELETED) down (EXPLETIVE DELETED) funnel up there to their death.

MACHADO: The chilling audio gives us a better sense of Dykes' state of mind as the days wore on and negotiations deteriorated.

DYKES: And if I saw (EXPLETIVE DELETED) doesn't respond to me by 5:30 this afternoon, I mean whatever time it is, then, by God, I will not talk (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

MACHADO: Authorities say Dykes stormed a school bus in Midland City, Alabama, on January 29th. A 15-year-old boy on the bus told dispatchers how a man had shot the driver and snatched one of the children.

911: OK, is he on the bus or did he take the kid off the bus?

CALLER: He took the kid off the bus.

911: He took the kid off the bus.

MACHADO: The bus driver, Charles Poland, was later hailed a hero for trying to protect his young passengers.

911: Was the bus driver the only person that was shot?

CALLER: Yes, ma'am.

911: OK, the bus driver was the only one that was shot. Hang in there, honey. You're doing so good. I'm so proud of you, OK?

MACHADO: Neighbors told CNN Dykes was a paranoid anti-government loner. Here's what the 65-year-old told negotiators.

DYKES: People are going to be standing up to this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) dictatorial, incompetent, self-righteous, bunch of sorry (EXPLETIVE DELETED) in government, that tell nothing but (EXPLETIVE DELETED) lies.

MACHADO: Law enforcement sources told CNN authorities used a camera to monitor what was going on inside the bunker while FBI rescue hostage teams trained on a model of a structure nearby. Agents reportedly saw Dykes holding a gun, prompting the rescue operation. Dykes they say was armed and managed to fire at agents before he was killed. Authorities found two explosive devices.

(on camera): The boy named, Ethan, was alive and returned to his family. He celebrated his sixth birthday after his rescue -- Alison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK: Alina Machado, thank you.

Bill W., you may not know his name, but you've surely heard of the organization he co-founded, Alcoholics Anonymous. Next, new revelations about challenges he had with his own recovery from the men who turned his story into a film.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: He's been called the most famous man you've never heard of, Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. And now, he's the subject of a revealing documentary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will Wilson was first and foremost an alcoholic in recovery. He was a stinking rotten drunk who by some divine grace was granted sobriety, was empowered to bring to the world this fellowship, this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: The film tells the story of Bill Wilson and his own struggles with alcoholism and the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous through Wilson's old speeches, never-before-seen archival footage and even letters written by Wilson.

To discuss this incredible film, I'm joined by the documentary's filmmakers, Kevin Hanlon in New York and Dan Carracino in Los Angeles.

Gentlemen, thank you for being here.

So, let me start by this. Why Bill Wilson? Why did you want to make a documentary on his life? KEVIN HANLON, CO-DIRECTOR, "BILL W": Well, it really began with the friendship that Dan and I have. We have been friends since we were in high school. Dan always told me he wanted to make a documentary film.

You know, we would talk about this on and off again for a long time and I never really knew if anything would come of it, but about eight or nine years ago, Dan got very serious about it and he really pressed me to consider making a commitment to make a film.

And at that time, I happened to be reading a book called "Not God," which is still considered the definitive history of Alcoholics Anonymous, and I just thought it was a fantastic story. I thought it was an incredible story. We talked act it and looked into it and found out nobody made a documentary about him, which really surprised us. So we decided to go ahead with it.

KOSIK: OK. So at the time you started this though, you knew there was very little visual material to use of Wilson. Is that right? And also, why do you think that is? And why did you actually continue with the project once you figured that out? Because that can be really challenging.

HANLON: It was extremely challenging --

DAN CARRACINO, CO-DIRECTOR, "BILL W": We kind of we kind of do things a little backwards.

There's one rule of documentary film making and that is you have to have access. We didn't really pay attention to it.

We just had this belief that we would find the material that we need to find to tell the story. And we think it's a very important story for people to know. We think there's a lot of -- as we discover going through, one of the things I think happened to us is that we always wanted to make a film together. And we thought this was a great story that beyond people in recovery, like we're not in recovery, we don't belong to AA, and it's a fantastic story.

And one of the things we learned as we were going through it is there were a lot of misconceptions about this fellowship and about this man. And we just thought it was really important to tell it. And finding visual materials, we were about two years into it and Kevin and I used to joke -- oh, well, now we know why nobody made a documentary about this fellowship before, they're anonymous.

And then we stumbled on these photographs, this trove of photographs. They were lost basically in a closet for years. And we came upon them while we're making the film. There were 1,500 negatives. It was unbelievable.

KOSIK: Kevin, one writer called Alcoholics Anonymous the greatest social institution of the 20th century. So why is it more people don't know about Bill Wilson?

HANLON: Well, I think it's because he did everything he could while he was alive to really set a really good example for anonymity. He thought and most people in AA will agree anonymity is really crucial to the way AA works. And, you know, he was actually offered a chance to be on the cover of "TIME" magazine in the 1950s, and he really agonized over this because he realized that if he allowed himself to be -- they even offered to shoot him from the back of his head so you wouldn't see his face at all.

But he felt that it was much more important to set an example of anonymity going forward. He agonized about it because he knew that there were probably a lot of people that would die because they wouldn't hear about it if he had been on the cover of the magazine. But he felt it was more important going forward to set this example of anonymity.

And I think, you know, he really toiled in the shadows in a way to set up this fellowship that would survive after he was gone. And he did that without trying to get any credit for himself. I mean, it's a really remarkable story.

KOSIK: Kevin, very quickly, let me ask you this. What do you think Bill Wilson would say about this film?

HANLON: I really can't say what Bill Wilson would say about this film. I can tell you that he was very concerned about history and actually took a lot of steps himself to leave behind a record so there would be a history of AA after he was gone.

And, I don't know, I hope he would like it. I hope he would appreciate what we've done, but I can't really say what he would think of it.

KOSIK: OK. Kevin Hanlon and Dan Carracino, thank you so much for your time.

CARRACINO: Thank you for having us.

HANLON: Thank you.

KOSIK: Storm chasers getting caught in a tornado, lifted in the air and thrown 200 yards. Next, I'm going to talk with one of the survivors who calls the crash the scariest moment of his life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: Welcome back to CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Alison Kosik.

Bottom of the hour now, here are some of the top stories we're watching this hour.

There's good weather today around Oklahoma City, which should help with the cleanup after Friday's tornadoes.

But things aren't so calm in Missouri. Along with tornado cleanup, they're dealing with flooding right now. The worst of that was in southern Missouri where three people drowned. And, today, the Mississippi River is rising to dangerous levels around St. Louis. Tornado safety tip, don't take shelter from the storm in your car. Most people follow the advice except storm chasers, who -- well, they do the opposite, driving straight into danger for a living. And as cool as some of those photos can look, the real life outcome, it ain't always pretty.

Look at this. That is -- or actually that was the Weather Channel's tornado hunt truck. It got swept up by a twister in Oklahoma and thrown 200 yards into a field. The video is blurry that you're seeing there, but you can kind of see the truck getting blown away. Thankfully, everyone survived.

And joining me now is one of the survivors, Weather Channel anchor and meteorologist Mike Bettes.

Mike, first of all, how are you feeling? How banged up did you and your crew get?

MIKE BETTES, METEOROLOGIST, THE WEATHER CHANNEL: Feeling a little sore this morning. A few cuts, a few scratches, but otherwise ok. Almost everyone walked away you know without a scratch on them. We have one of our -- our crew members who had some broken bones. He's still in the hospital. But he's in pretty good spirits.

KOSIK: Tell me what it was like going from the hunter of the tornado to the hunted.

BETTES: Scary. I mean I've seen a lot of these in my career, but never been that close. And was trying to get -- I was trying to get away from the storm at that point, but getting picked up, you know, tumbling, being airborne, it was -- it was violent, it was rough. You know I truly -- the scariest -- the scariest moment in my life.

KOSIK: You know, you do this for a living. This isn't the first one you've chased. So what do you think went wrong here?

BETTES: I think this was just an erratic tornado. I think the size of it and the speed of it changed you know very, very quickly. I think the direction of movement changed quickly. And I think there were a lot of people out there, you know, that end up getting stuck in positions they didn't want to be in. We were one of them. We were trying to race south to get just past the tornado. The southern side is usually a pretty safe place to be because then the storm is moving away from you and you won't be caught in any rain or hail or things that might, you know, obscure your view of the tornado and -- and your ability to judge where it's going. I think if we had maybe another 30 seconds, we would have been past it.

KOSIK: Would you go -- would you go ahead and say that this could be the scariest moment of your life?

BETTES: Oh, without question. I mean, truly my life flashed before my eyes. I mean I saw, you know, people in my life, I saw their faces you know flash right in front of me. And it just seemed like for a moment everything was in -- was in slow motion, especially when we were floating, I kind of felt like I was being lifted to heaven or something. I just couldn't -- I just -- I mean I was conscious through the whole thing and remember the whole thing, but it's still a surreal moment.

KOSIK: Yes, in the interview that we heard earlier, you got emotional talking about your wife who you married six months ago, is that right?

BETTES: Yes. I mean that's -- I distinctly remember when we were floating seeing her face. And that's all I could think about was her. So it was a -- it was a tough moment, that's for sure. But it was nice to land safely on the ground and you know we were -- all the crew was kind of screaming to each other are you ok, are you ok. And it was just good to hear their voices and at that point I knew everyone was ok.

KOSIK: I'm curious what's the first thing you said to your wife after the crash?

KOSIK: She gave me a stern yelling -- a stern yelling at, but I probably deserve that, but just told her I loved her and was going to see her soon.

KOSIK: What drives you to chase these tornadoes? Is it -- I mean is it a financial thing? Is it -- is it just something that's in your blood, you know? And will you go out there again?

BETTES: Oh I think, you know, inherently in the business that we're in, in weather that's what we do. I mean we show weather. And we're like to be out there and show people what these things can do and help give advanced warning. You know a lot of times the storm spotters out there serve a very valuable purpose. They give ground truth to what meteorologists in the National Weather Service are doing.

But seeing it in person and seeing it for real and giving that real time information, I think you know it really supplements the warning it helps, you know, people take shelter ahead of time.

I don't know. I don't know if I'll -- if I'll chase again. My family probably will have a say in that. I think all the crew members, we all agree that if we were together again, we'd do it. So we'll see.

KOSIK: Yes I'm sure your wife will have something to say about that. One last quick question, what do you say to other storm chasers out there who risk their lives in extreme weather?

BETTES: I would just say, you know, there's -- there's probably a lesson to be learned from this particular tornado because I think a lot of people were caught in a bad position.

Don't stop doing what you're doing, just have situational awareness, know how inherently dangerous these storms are, chase with a partner, have a safety plan, have an escape route. And just try to be as safe as you possibly can. You don't always have to be right next to it, you can still report and do a great job being farther away from it and lesson learned, you know, by our crew as well.

KOSIK: All right meteorologist Mike Bettes, I'm glad you and your crew are safe and thanks for your time.

BETTES: Thank you.

KOSIK: Coming up, we're talking about managing the pain in your life with a pastor who says life is like an STD, it may be incurable and terminal, but it's not untreatable.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: For today's "Faces of Faith", we're talking about managing pain because at one point or another everyone suffers through their own personal hell. So what is hell? Some people think it looks like this, the flaming bowls of earth where souls are tortured for eternity.

But one renowned pastor has a different view of hell. To him it looks more like this, the pain and anguish caused by the destruction in Oklahoma after tornadoes demolished homes and stole lives.

Bishop Carlton Pearson believes none of us will go to hell in the afterlife because we all go through hell in this life. Bishop Pearson joins us now from Tulsa. Bishop, good morning to you; let's start with everything that's happened in Oklahoma. You've got roots there your family is there, how can people manage the pain?

BISHOP CARLTON PEARSON, FOUNDER, NEW DIMENSIONS CHICAGO: Well, of course, everybody uses faith. This city -- this city, this state is known for its faith. There's a lot of fundamentalist Christians, there are Jews, there are Muslims. And in every discipline when natural disasters occur, people use faith to manage their fear, to manage their pain, to manage their pathos and that's common in any planet, I mean in any place on the planet. People use faith. And that's what we're doing here in Oklahoma. That's what we do in Chicago when we have terrible storms and people do that when they have it in their lives.

I don't believe anybody goes to hell, but I believe everybody goes through it in some way. Eternal damnation, you know, somehow absurd and obscene but weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth that's in Moore, Oklahoma today. It's in certain parts of the world where people are anguished over the loss of family or fortune.

Some people are in jail. Some people are at ICU right now. Some people are in emergency rooms and going through divorce, all that's hellish and painful and pitiful. And so we use different ways to treat that pain. Some are in church this morning, they're on their way, getting ready to go and get some weekly treatment, their weekly injection of faith and positive sensitivity. So it all works.

KOSIK: Bishop Pearson, you used to participate in laying hands, some might think of it as a type of exorcism, but you say everyone has different ways of managing their demons. Explain how. PEARSON: Yes people feel demonized. I used -- I've actually -- I come from a religious tradition where you actually cast out devils. You invoke the name of Jesus, the power of blood, the word of God, you rebuke and bind and I've had them writhing and frothing and spitting and cursing. I did that the first time when I was 16 because my dad and his dad and our great grandparents it was part of the tradition of Our Pentecostal fundamentalist roots. And now that I've matured over the years I still see people being demonized, they may not refer to it that way, in all parts of the world.

I've been to African and Asia and around the planet and every culture has their idea of evil. Even though scripture says in Genesis that we're not supposed to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God and devil or devil, I like to interpret that good as evil or God as devil.

Sometimes, even things like we're having disasters in biblical proportion that the association with the bible and terrible disasters or nature and terrible disasters or spirit possession when a person is possessed by devils or demons or demonized in their thinking, they go to church or a priest or they want somebody to wave a cross over them or oil. In other cultures they might go to the medicine man or to the shaman or to the witch doctor per se to exorcise, cast out, that particular perception of a demon or darkness or a shadow, or whatever they -- whatever terminology we use.

That's the dual consciousness that there is a good God and a bad God and both of them are powerful. I try to address that by faith to teach people to reassess what we believe, why we believe it, how those beliefs add to or subtract from the quality of our lives. So now I still deal with people who feel demonized, I just deal with it differently.

Why do you feel that way about yourself? Ok let's talk about it, let's talk through it. You're going through drug addiction? Substance abuse? You can't handle your sexuality? You can't -- your appetites? You're dealing with anger, you're dealing with fear? That's why I call life a sexually transmitted disease or dis-ease.

KOSIK: But yes let me understand that you compare life to STDs, how is that?

PEARSON: Well, your mom and dad, whether they were married or not were sexually active and you got here. 300 million microscopic seeds chased the one egg your mother released and all of them died except the one that -- that connected with it and it's a sexually transmitted dis-ease, there's tension, there's stress, there's anxiety in this human experience. There's fear, there's -- there's a floundering, there's questions and wonderings and -- and so we're trying to manage the pain of being human.

You might do that with a piece of chocolate cake. You might do it with a scripture. Some people do it with a glass of wine. People do it, I fasted and prayed and sing. Millions are getting treatment this morning in church, religious experiences all over the planet. But when I say sexually transmitted, it is because your parents were intimate and here you come. You didn't ask to be here, we just showed up. And we're trying to figure out what do I do with being on this planet. So religion or faith-based consciousness has addressed those issues. How do we deal with the fear that we have?

KOSIK: Ok Bishop Carlton Pearson very interesting, thanks.

PEARSON: It's a pleasure.

KOSIK: And for more stories on faith be sure to check out our belief blog at CNN.com/belief.

Still ahead, remembering TV icon Jean Stapleton.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: The Republican-led House is keeping up the pressure on the IRS. Candy Crowley, anchor of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" joins us from Washington now. Candy, you're talking with Congressman Darrell Issa, right?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Yes. And there are three separate hearings just on the IRS scheduled, at least, for this week. We'll see what else pops up. Issa's committee is going to focus on some of these parties and conferences that the IRS gave that were proved quite expensive. There's a new report out about that. So keeping the heat on the IRS is exactly right.

We're also, Alison, going to have some new information out of the investigation of who decided it was a good idea to target any organization with "Tea Party" or "Patriot" in their name that was applying to the IRS for tax exempt status. That has really consumed Washington for a couple of weeks. The investigators have spent the weeks interviewing some folks including some of those frontline agents in the Cincinnati office that took a lot of heat early on.

So we have snippets of some of the interviews with those folks that we're going to unveil at 9:00 and talk to Darrell Issa about and where he thinks this is headed.

KOSIK: Ok, Candy Crowley, thank you. Stay right here for the "STATE OF THE UNION". It starts at the top of the hour 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Jean Stapleton -- she was an accomplished actress in movies and on Broadway, but it was her role as Edith Bunker in the '70s sitcom "All in the Family" that changed her life. And maybe it changed America a little bit too.

Our Miguel Marquez has this look back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That familiar tune from the 1970s.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's your mother? Edith? Edith?

JEAN STAPLETON, ACTRESS: How was your day?

MARQUEZ: Jean Stapleton played the lovable and daffy Edith, the wife of Archie Bunker on the ground-breaking 1970s sitcom "All in the Family".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- supper on the table.

STAPLETON: We're going to eat out tonight.

MARQUEZ: Here she tells Larry King that she took a buyout and never made residuals on the show.

STAPLETON: I've never had a regret. Why should I dwell on that? I've benefited daily by having done that role and basking in its success. And everything I do is because I gained recognition and some understanding of what I do from that experience.

MARQUEZ: Stapleton won many fans, three Emmys and two Golden Globes for that role. The show took chances that no one else did at that time like having the sound of toilet flush and addressing touchy topics like racism.

STAPLETON: Archie said he never thought he'd see the day when coloreds and whites would be hugging and kissing coast-to-coast.

MARQUEZ: Stapleton was a New Yorker through and through, born in the city and she died of natural causes at her home there on Friday. Stapleton was a stage veteran before she got into TV. Her mother was an opera singer. And she also sang playing next to Barbara Streisand in the Broadway sensation "Funny Girl".

STAPLETON: I tell you, it's the most rewarding experience every single night to hear that laughter and to respond to it as an actor.

MARQUEZ: Stapleton had two children who both have their own careers in television.

Miguel Marquez, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: How about that for bizarre? An escaped llama in Tallahassee, Florida getting tased. Yes, deputies trying to subdue the runaway named Scooter were forced to use a taser on him after he began trampling them and yes, spitting in their faces. The good news is Scooter is now back home with his owner.

At 17, most kids aren't thinking about changing policies across the country, but then again most kids aren't Lou Wegner. Lou Wegner is a 15-year-old actor and animal activist. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOU WEGNER, ANIMAL ACTIVIST: I am passionate about all animals. I'm a huge animal lover. I've always been into dogs. I've been rescuing dogs since I was a very young boy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: That was Lou featured on the show "The Young Icons". The 16-year-old actor is also the founder of kids against animal cruelty or KAAC. Recently he flew from Burbank, California to West Virginia for this -- a prom date with Emily Kaypark. You see Emily is the head of her local KAAC chapter.

And you see those pictures they're holding? Yes, that's Janice and Ali, two dogs on death row. The teens would only go to the prom with pictures of the dogs they were trying to save. And you know what, it worked.

Lou Wegner joins me now from Los Angeles. Welcome to you and your little chihuahua there, Draco.

WEGNER: Thank you. Thanks for having us. We're very excited to be here.

KOSIK: I knew you flew so far and devoted so much time for this prom, tell me, what did it feel like to learn that both dogs were adopted?

WEGNER: Oh, I mean it was just a great feeling. It was like I was just -- it was just an idea. And you know, it was an idea that worked. And when an idea works and you save lives and it's just like there's nothing better. It was awesome.

KOSIK: Where did your passion come from to get involved in this cause?

WEGNER: My passion came from my parents, you know. They got me enrolled in zoo camp when I was two years old. And ever since then I've just always been working with animals. When I was older, I was in a wildlife camp that really worked on rehabilitating injured animals in the wildlife like hawks, skunks and coyotes and stuff like that.

So you know, and then once I came out here to do acting, I got involved with animal rescue. And it's just something that's been with me since I was a kid. So I feel like that also helped me with my knowledge of animals. It's really helped push Kids against Animal Cruelty in such a positive way.

KOSIK: Now gas chambers are banned in almost two dozen states including Texas who just signed. But you're hoping actually to get these gas chambers banned in every state.

WEGNER: Yes.

KOSIK: How do you think you're going to get this done?

WEGNER: You know, right now all we can do is just contact your local congressman and congresswoman. Just e-mail them and tell them to support this bill, Resolution 208. It's being put on by Jim Moran -- Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia. So, if you can just e-mail or contact or call or leave a message to your local congressmen or women and just have them support this bill, I mean it is -- it's already been done through half the country. If we can just get this a little bit further, we can possibly get it completely banned throughout the entire United States.

KOSIK: Why is the gas chamber so cruel compared to other methods of euthanasia for dogs? And why is it used over other methods?

WEGNER: You know, I honestly -- I couldn't tell you why it's used. I don't understand it. I mean it's so much more painful. It's horrific. It's scary. It's just an all-out terrible way to die. I honestly -- I can't tell you why it's used. But I don't know if it's cheaper. I don't know the exact facts so I can't really comment or speculate on that.

All I know is it just needs to stop. It's horrible the way that the -- with what they go through when they get gassed. It's not right.

KOSIK: So what's the solution that you can suggest to animal overpopulation?

WEGNER: You know, we promote a lot of just spay or neutering your pets. Just by spay or neutering they're not out breeding. And if you have a dog that goes out a lot, they're not breeding with other dogs. And they're not having puppies that are running around then the stray population gets really big. So like we like to promote spay and neutering your pets just so that way, you know, try to keep all the animals contained. That really prevents overcrowding at the same time.

KOSIK: Now, how did you get a-hold of Draco?

WEGNER: How did I get a-hold of Draco? Draco -- I was at an adoption event and Craco was the most annoying dog there. He was barking at everybody and thinking he was the big man on campus. But no one wanted him. He had no hair on him when we got him. He had terrible mange. He was completely hairless.

KOSIK: You wanted him anyway?

WEGNER: Well, they asked if we could foster him. And we're like, ok, we'll take him in because he's -- no one wanted him. He wasn't getting adopted. And then we just became so attached to him. He's got all his hair back now. He's just the love of our lives and he's a great dog. And we love him very much. He's awesome.

KOSIK: Thanks so much for joining us. Lou Wegner, your Web site is kidsagainstanimalcruelty.org. Your organization also has a Facebook page. WEGNER: Yes.

KOSIK: Once again, thanks for joining us this morning.

WEGNER: Thank you so much for having me.

KOSIK: I'm Alison Kosik. Thanks for watching today. "STATE OF THE UNION with Candy Crowley starts right now.