Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Mountain Climber Searchers Get Break in Weather; Lack of Power in Pacific Northwest; Gift Card Scams
Aired December 16, 2006 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Missing almost a week now. Searchers finally get the break in the weather that they've been waiting for. Now the big push is on to find three missing mountain climbers. From the CNN Center this is CNN NEWSROOM. It is Saturday, December 16th, 10:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. at Mt. Hood in Oregon where we will take you, the latest on that. In the meantime, good morning everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes, yes a live report straight ahead this hour. But first, a check of the other headlines this morning.
Powerless in Seattle and Portland and pretty much all over the place in the Pacific Northwest this morning, following a fierce windstorm that left six people dead. And this weekend promises to be a cold one now. A live report from Seattle is also minutes away.
An outbreak of a potentially deadly bacterium has sickened seven children, mostly babies, at an L.A. hospital. The White Memorial Medical Center says one infant died probably as a result of being infected. The hospital has temporarily closed its neonatal and pediatrics intensive care units to new admissions.
NGUYEN: More American troops could be headed to Iraq. The "Associated Press" reports the Pentagon is planning to move a brigade of some 3500 troops into Kuwait early next year. The "AP" reports the troops could be called quickly into Iraq.
Now, the Iraqi army backed by U.S. troops raided Baghdad Shiite strong hold of Sadr City today. The military says one militant was killed and six people arrested. The raid targeted a militant responsible for kidnappings and bombings.
HOLMES: From Cuba this morning, the country's communist party newspaper reports that ailing leader Fidel Castro spoke by phone to a work session of the Cuban assembly. The 80-year-old leader handed over power to his brother in late July.
And the crew of the space shuttle just got up 15 minutes ago, maybe some of you all did as well. Another space walk begins several hours from now. The space walkers will complete a wiring repairing job on the international space station. If time permits, astronauts also may take another look at a solar panel that won't retract. And of course we're going to run down the top stories for you every 15 minutes here on CNN NEWSROOM. We'll have some in -depth coverage all morning long. Your next check of the headlines coming up at 10:15 eastern.
NGUYEN: First up this hour, developments in the Pacific Northwest, where people are waking up to a much better weather outlook this weekend. And that's good, but there is quite a mess to clean up. Power still out for nearly a million people in Oregon and Washington. And a message from the power company, well, not exactly reassuring. It could be days before power is back on in some areas. And on Oregon's Mt. Hood, where we have all been watching very closely, today could be the day rescuers have been hoping for to attempt to find those three missing climbers.
HOLMES: Yeah, calmer weather could help the rescuers. They're planning their biggest assault on the mountain so far, both on the ground and in the air. CNN's Dan Simon has more on the rescue efforts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A small orange piece of paper raised hopes that the three climbers are still alive. A note left by the trio at this ranger station one day before their journey up the mountain. It's one of several notes the group left along the way.
CAPT. CHRIS BERNARD, 304TH RESCUE SQUADRON: They outlined what they have, we have food, fuel, ropes, shovel, baby sacks, heavy parkas, etcetera. We have experience on Rainier, Denali, South American expedition, etcetera.
SIMON: Authorities had known about the note for several days. It wasn't clear why they never mentioned it before. But its revelation reinforced optimism that the climbers had the necessary resources to survive.
BERNARD: I always knew that they were a squared away climbing group here. It's just one more piece that highlights that. They did all the right things. They're doing all the right things. They took all the right gear.
FRANK JAMES, KELLY JAMES' BROTHER: These three guys got -- dotted all their I's and crossed all their T's.
SIMON: But the search was stymied by the second straight day of blizzard like conditions. The mountain and its surrounding towns took a beating last night and today. It got so bad that most of the rescue teams had to come off the mountain. They had been hunkering down at 6,000 feet, far below the location where they believe one of the climbers, Kelly James, is holding out. That's at the 10,000 foot level. The situation resembles something like this from a few days ago. Still, the Nevada Air National Guard was able to put up one of its planes, a C-130 with thermal imaging. He was unable to detect anything but more missions were planned.
CAPT. JOHN PROHEL, 152ND AIRLIFT WING: Darkness is not too much of a factor because we can still get an infrared capability looking for a heat signature. Of course if they're in a snow cave we probably won't be able to see that.
SIMON: The families have shown remarkable strength while waiting for information about their loved ones' fate. But today there was visible emotion as James' wife talked about his and the other climbers' strength.
KAREN JAMES, KELLY JAMES' WIFE: They're fighting so hard to do everything they can to get down to us. And that's what we take because they're not quitters. Kelly, has just the thing in our house, you can't say can't. And that's just how they are. And so we know that their number one goal right now is to hunker down, make it through it and come back to us.
SIMON: And with an unexpected break in the weather Saturday, rescuers plan an aggressive search to find the missing men. Dan Simon, CNN, Parkdale, Oregon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Well no power, no heat. Folks in the Pacific Northwest, is a completely different story, they are having a tough time of it this morning. And utility crews are struggling to get the electricity back on. Gary Chittim of our affiliate KING joins us now from Seattle with the latest. What's the biggest hurdle here for these electric companies to get that power back on?
GARY CHITTIM, KING: Betty, it's a long struggle, and they're working some of these guys 36, 48 hours straight trying to do their best to get it on. And it is going to be a long, drawn out process. Still half a million people, just by one power company in Puget Sound alone. Here's what they're up against, this is the situation on not really a remote road, this is a well-traveled road, just outside of one of the Seattle suburbs, power lines like this and they're all over the place. This is just one laying nearly on its side after being knocked over by powerful winds that knocked trees into them. We had some incredible numbers out here, 70 mile per hour winds in an urban area. We had flooding. We've had four people die as a result of this storm and it's had crews working all night long.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHITTIM (voice-over): The high wire acts continue through the night. First the chain saws, then the repair teams. This is power restoration, one piece at a time, painfully slow and extremely dangerous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're doing what we can do. I don't know what to say. We're just trying to get it all up.
CHITTIM: You can hear it in their voices. They are overworked and overwhelmed but determined to get the power back on for some 1 million customers who lost it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they start to appreciate us a little more, especially this year. I mean it's just been kind of insane.
CHITTIM: Adding to the insanity of the temperatures dipping below freezing in many places overnight and expected to continue doing so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just trying to stay warm.
CHITTIM: Many of the powerless are flooding markets for alternative fuels. While that's a good way to cook on outdoor Bar-b- cue's, some are trying dangerous methods to heat their homes with disastrous results. The outages are causing other problems. Gasoline stations that have fuel are running out. And police had to help keep the peace and patients at stations where big lines were forming. The problems at the pump and everywhere else can be solved at the pole and that's where power crews are concentrating their efforts now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHITTIM: And while a lot of them are just on these little poles on little roads on every corner that you can find in our area, some of them are the big poles, they have 80 of their main transmission lines that are down. And one power company alone, they've only gotten 20 of those back. Still, 500,000 customers without power just by one company. It's going to be very cold again tonight and it's going to be a long night for the people out here. Reporting live from near Seattle, Gary Chittim, CNN NEWS. Back to you.
NGUYEN: Well Gary we appreciate that.
Talking about Mother Nature, we've got a lot of stories involved with the wicked weather out there.
HOLMES: Yeah, we're going to be talking more about that, facing that fury from Mother Nature.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a fighting cold -- it's hard to see. In fact, it's down right painful. The question now is if you were stuck in these conditions, what do you do? How do you survive?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That is painful to watch.
HOLMES: CNN's Rick Sanchez puts himself in it and he finds out how exactly do you survive in those conditions. That's coming up later in the NEWSROOM.
NGUYEN: But first, there is something about Mary, Cheney, that is. The expectant mother and her partner get a warm wish from the White House and their happy news. That's coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looked like a body on the busy railway line outside Epson Station, only a witness noticed the body was snoring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Not a good place to take a nap.
HOLMES: You've got to see this. Yeah. Ok, that explains it all pretty much. But see it to believe it. That's coming up as well in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, a change in the political lineup to tell you about now. We start with Republican Tommy Thompson. In his possible run for president, yep, you guessed it, he formed an exploratory committee and Thompson of course was governor of Wisconsin. But before taking over as head of the federal department of Health and Human Services, that was his other role, but now he's thinking about running for president. We'll keep you posted on that one.
Now one in and one out. Democrat Evan Bayh bowing out before really getting off the ground. The Indiana Senator formed an exploratory committee about two weeks ago but now he has decided, nah, not just the right time for me. Meanwhile, former Republican Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia has a new party. Yes a new party. He now says he is a card carrying libertarian unhappy with the direction of his former Republican colleagues. Barr says he has no plans to run for office.
HOLMES: Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter Mary is having a baby. Now that's the news we already knew about. What's new is that President Bush had a reaction to that announcement and CNN's Carol Costello reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What a difference a baby makes. President George Bush is against gay adoption, against gay marriage, telling the "New York Times" last year, "I believe children can receive love from gay couples but the ideal is -- and studies have shown that the ideal is where a child is raised in a married family with a man and a woman." Now hear this. This is President Bush in the current issue of "People" magazine congratulating the VP's lesbian daughter on her pregnancy. He says, "Mary Cheney is going to make a fine mom and she's going to love this child a lot." There's just something about Mary. The confounding twist in Bush's political agenda. She is his Vice President's daughter in a loving, long-term relationship with partner Heather Poe and was a top adviser on the Bush/Cheney campaign. Yet, remember back in 2004 when Mr. Bush was asked if being gay was a choice. He said --
BUSH: I just don't know. I do know that we have a choice to make in America and that is to treat people with tolerance and respect and dignity. But as we respect someone's rights and as we profess tolerance, we shouldn't have to change our basic views on the sanctity of marriage. I believe in the sanctity of marriage.
COSTELLO: It was after those comments that John Kerry brought up the elephant in the room, Mary Cheney.
SEN. JOHN KERRY, FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're all God's children Bob. And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was. She's being who she was born as.
COSTELLO: Lynn Cheney fired back.
LYNN CHENEY: This is not a good man. What a cheap and tawdry political trick.
COSTELLO: Many conservatives have long been imploring Bush to keep supporting traditional marriage despite Mary Cheney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we distort the law because some people have made decisions in their lives that don't comport with that, then that will not be good for society.
COSTELLO: And on policy, the president remained firm again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does he still believe that's the idea?
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Yeah he does. But he also believes that every human life is sacred and that every child who comes into this world deserves love. And he believes that Mary Cheney's child will, in fact, have loving parents.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Today's going global, all about Britain. The BBC has aired a tantalizing new theory in the poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. An ex-business associate tells the BBC he believes Litvinenko was murdered over damaging information he had gathered about a Kremlin official. We'll keep you posted on that.
In Ipswich, a moment of silence today, for the victims of a suspected serial killer. Surveillance video was released today of one victim as she traveled by train on December 3rd. And in the town of Epsom, you've got to listen to this. See it actually. An amazing and bizarre story of dumb luck that you don't want to miss. Check it out, here's ITN's Paul Davies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL DAVIES, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): It looked like a body on the busy railway line outside Epsom Station. Only a witness noticed the body was snoring. Former company director Kevin Craswell was drunk when he wandered onto the track, laid his head on the rail and went to sleep. A police helicopter filmed the chaos that ensued. Trains on four lines had to be stopped and diverted. Railway workers had to disconnect power as Mr. Craswell's foot was just a few inches from the third live rail. And through all the drama he slept on. Even when a train passed just a few feet from where he slept, oblivious to the noise, oblivious to the risk and unaware that thousands of commuter journeys were being disrupted. Eventually, when the track was safe, police officers and paramedics were able to reach him and only then did he wake up.
(on camera): Kevin Craswell says he's deeply ashamed of what he did that day. He says he'd been drinking so heavily he has absolutely no recollection of walking onto the track here and then lying down to sleep on it. British Transport Police say he's incredibly lucky not to have been electrocuted.
GRAHAM COTTINGTON, BRITISH TRANSPORT POLICE: If he would have outstretched his leg he would have touched the third rail and he would have been electrocuted with 750 volts. If he had moved his leg one foot, he would have been dead.
DAVIES: A recovering alcoholic, Kevin Craswell was told he could have been sent to jail. Instead, he was fined and ordered to undertake community service. Paul Davies, ITV News, Epsom.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. How do you get there? How do you get to that point? Let's just say that is one lucky man. He needs to buy a lottery ticket and then go to AA. I mean, he has a problem. If you're falling asleep on a train track, a train passes right past you, it doesn't even wake you up.
HOLMES: I've been out before, not drunk out but I've been out before.
NGUYEN: Let's clarify shall we.
HOLMES: But I've never slept that hard before.
NGUYEN: Lucky man.
HOLMES: We will talk about some Christmas gifts. You probably bought some of these or will receive some. Gift cars, their the grab and go gifts that shoppers love. There's somebody else who would like to grab and go with them, some thieves. We'll explain how someone can actually pick your pocket without even leaving their house.
And this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It's fighting cold. It's hard to see. In fact, it's downright painful. The question now is if you're stuck in these conditions, what do you do? How do you survive?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: How indeed? Coming up, our Rick Sanchez braves the elements to show you exactly what those three missing mountain climbers must do to stay alive. It's a story worth sticking around for. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Grinch is right. You love those gift cards, right? We all do. Well, so do thieves. There is a new way that they are channeling the inner Grinch to steal your holiday cheer. And that is just one of the scams that you need to look out for this holiday season. Wendy Bounds is editor with the "Wall Street Journal" and she joins us now from New York. Good morning to you.
WENDY BOUNDS, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Good morning.
NGUYEN: All right, let's get straight to it. Love the gift cards. Love them. So does everybody. I mean this is, what, $25 billion business.
BOUNDS: And growing.
NGUYEN: And growing, yet thieves, obviously, with any good thing, they're going to find their way into it. So what are the biggest scams when it comes to gift cards?
BOUNDS: And they have this year. It is a frighteningly clever way they are doing this. The thieves are going into the stores that you and I shop in, they're finding the kiosks with the cards, copying down the number of the card. Then, they go home, they wait for you and I to actually buy the card and have it activated. They dial a 1- 800 number, learn that it's activated, go online, blow the whole card, you're holding an empty card or you're giving even worse your mother- in-law an empty card to Sax or something like that and she's not going to be very happy.
NGUYEN: Wow! So all those cards that you sitting out that you can just pick up, take it to the cash register and say hook me up with 25 bucks or whatever, those are the ones that they're writing the numbers down from the back of.
BOUNDS: That's a very good point. It's the one thing they have access to Betty and this is where consumers can actually protect themselves. Try and get cards that are actually behind the counter or look for the cards that have security cards with scratch off on them. That's one thing to really be careful of. And another thing that people don't really know is that because these have grown as you pointed out in the industry, so many places are offering gift cards. There are sales clerks who actually are pocketing the activated cards and handing you back a blank card. I would suggest asking them to show you your balance or going on your cellphone before you leave the star calling the 800 number and checking just to make sure you didn't get scammed.
NGUYEN: So to make sure, so when that clerk hands you the card, you can just say, ok, just for a second, let's run that. I just want to see for myself that there is the 50 bucks on there that I paid for.
BOUNDS: Absolutely. Just say I want to see my balance. Do you mind just showing it to me? You can even say, you know, gosh, I read a lot about these scams out there. Can you show me my balance? Or if you feel uncomfortable like I said, just tap it in on your cellphone and call in. And that's one of the scams that are out there that people need to look out for.
NGUYEN: What are some of the other things, what are some of the other things that are going on right now, besides just the gift cards? I mean a lot of people buying online. It seems like it's easy to get duped.
BOUNDS: Absolutely. And as you know, we're entering sort of the final stretch here. You know Hanukkah is already under way. And we have Christmas in a week. So people are in a hurry. One thing is phishing, where people set up fake web sites. How many times have you gone, typed in a website, misspelled it by one letter? Well there are predators out there who create fake websites, they draw you in, they make it look like a real retail website, they get your credit card information as you click to buy and then the screen goes black and it's gone and they've already got your private information. That's one thing.
NGUYEN: So what do you do, how do you make sure?
BOUNDS: You need to first of all just take a deep breath and make sure you type the right sign-in. You can right-click with your mouse, look at properties, you can see exactly what the site is there. And also beware of e-mails that are sort of phishing for your private information. You'll get something from like Pay Pal or another trusted source that says, hi, you know we think you've been the victim of fraud, could you please provide us with your social security number, your mother's maiden name again. And they ask you for that private information. Do not give it via e-mail like that. That is definitely something to be aware of. And also charities. I mean this is the time of year people are good will toward men. People are bogusly calling up and saying, "I have this charity, can you please donate over the phone." Ask for written information. Have it sent to your house. They will send it to you. And if you are in doubt, there are two websites, give.org and charitynavigator.org. Both of those can help you (INAUDIBLE) out what the real good legitimate charities are.
NGUYEN: Bottom line, if it sounds fishy. If you've got this pretty uneasy feeling about it, you know pretty much your instincts are right. So do the checking as necessary.
BOUNDS: Exactly. If it's too good to be true, if it's too good to be true.
NGUYEN: It probably is. Yeah, exactly. Wendy Bounds with "The Wall Street Journal." Thank you so much. T.J.?
HOMLES: Well his entire life unfolds on the big screen this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL SMITH: Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you, you can't do something. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Will Smith captures a struggle of Chris Gardner, a homeless man who slept in Subway restrooms, fighting to raise his son and survive. Where is the real life Chris Gardner now? He's just a multi-millionaire.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS GARDNER, CEO, GARDNER RICH & CO.: In your darkest days, when it's all on the line, the only person you can count on is you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Gardener talks to CNN's Carol Lin about his life and his advice to those who are fighting to survive. And you can join CNN SATURDAY NIGHT 10:00 eastern for a prime time special, a paycheck away. CNN's Saturday morning continues. Rather, we're now in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Now in the news, day break is coming to Mt. Hood and that means a renewed effort to find three missing climbers. Severe weather held back rescue efforts yesterday. We're going to get the latest from the foot of Mt. Hood. That will happen in just a few moments.
Meantime, nearly a million people are without power this morning after a fierce windstorm in the Pacific Northwest. They're trying to clean up and get back on track today, but it could be days before crews get the power back on in some areas.
HOLMES: Proffering an olive branch, Iraq's government is holding a reconciliation conference today and it's opened the door for former members of Saddam Hussein's army to return and curb the violence. The conference is aimed at rallying ethnic and religious and political groups around the strategy for stabilizing Iraq.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is in Turkey. He's lending support to Turkey's bid to join the European Union. Earlier in the week, the EU suspended talks with Turkey because of quote, failure to normalize trade with Cyprus.
NGUYEN: Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas wants immediate presidential and parliamentary elections. He is calling on Palestinians to reject the formation of a unity government and with the rival faction Hamas. Hamas is opposed to early elections.
Two space shuttle Discovery astronauts getting ready for another walk today. They'll do some rewiring work on the international space station (INAUDIBLE) the astronauts hope to get a closer look at a solar panel that won't fully retract. Engineers think it is hung up on a guide wire. We'll have your next check of the headlines coming up at 10:45 Eastern. HOLMES: Holding out hope. Rescuers are heading back up Mt. Hood, searching for three experienced climbers missing for more than a week now. Weather has been holding back search crews, but now a bit of good luck. We'll get more now with Jim Hyde of affiliate KETV (ph) at the foot of Mt. Hood.
JIM HYDE, KETV: We're at the ranger station at Parkdale, Oregon. This is northeast of Mt. Hood. It was here yesterday that the search leaders and the families of the three missing men were gathered, giving each other hope and logistical support. Searchers say they're ready today. They're encouraged by a good weather forecast. Right now we have some snow flurries as the morning light just begins. But it forecast is for light winds and some sunshine later. Since nearly nine days now these men have been missing higher up on Mt. Hood.
The search conditions have been awful within the past 36 hours. There's been about a foot and a half of snow up there. The hope is these men are in a snow cave or snow caves and will be able to make some kind of signal or pop out and wave at the aircraft. That's the hope. Of course we don't know. We've not had contact with them since Sunday. The wife of Kelly James talked to him on his cell phone. He said at that time he was wet and cold. But here these searchers are experienced and well equipped and they're encouraged.
Yesterday their statement said they showed a note that the three missing men had left here at the ranger station. It detailed the route they were going to take, the equipment they had, their experience. They've done much tougher mountains than this. But the weather has been awful this week, so searchers have not been able to get high enough to see them. That's the situation here in Parkdale, Oregon. This is Jim Hyde reporting for CNN.
NGUYEN: And we are getting word that there is a live news conference at the foot of the mountain at 12:00 noon today and obviously we're going to try to hope to get some new information about the survival of those climbers that everyone has been so desperately searching for, but hampered by the weather.
HOLMES: Hampered by the weather and again, I think that's going to be 12:00 Eastern we're hearing, so just a couple hours. So hopefully we'll get some good news there and hope to hear some good news from you as well this morning, Reynolds, things clearing out. They should have a better day, really the first good day they've had in a while to attack that mountain.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No question about it. Things will be better today. Temperatures still chilly, no question about that. I mean things will be better today. Temperatures still chilly, no question about that, but in terms of sky conditions, it will be much easier for observations from aircraft. I heard they have a C-130 that was flying around Mt. Hood and much better for them for viewing to try to find these hikers.
Meanwhile here's what's happening as we speak. Just to the north of Seattle and just near (INAUDIBLE) we see some few scattered showers this time, nothing heavy at this point. Take a look at this live image that we have from downtown Seattle compliments of KCPQ. It looks like skies are cloudy. Again, I promise you as we make our way into the midday hours, it will begin to clear out and conditions will be much better. If you're wondering where that big storm system went, let's go back to the weather computer and I'll show you. It's right here, pretty easy to see, moving through the central Rockies where some places could see up to a foot or two feet of snow, some places even more higher in the peaks. Meanwhile, plenty of sunshine on the eastern seaboard. That's the latest. Back to you.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Reynolds.
You've been talking about it or read about it, watch TV news reports about it, but climbing two miles up a mountain in December is one of those things you can't fully understand until you try it. CNN's Rick Sanchez did at Loveland Pass, Colorado.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From a distance, Rocky mountain summit seemed to melt into the clouds. As we get closer, though, they reveal their danger. That cut is called seven sisters. See the seven parallel paths? Each one is a known avalanche zone where skiers and mountaineers have been trapped or killed. You're not going to be able to get out of the way once that gets rolling?
MICHAEL ALKAITIS, AMERICAN MOUNTAIN GUIDES ASSN: Oh no. You'll be right in it.
SANCHEZ: Really?
ALKAITIS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Chances of surviving?
ALKAITIS: I couldn't say, not very good.
SANCHEZ: Not good?
ALKAITIS: Yeah.
SANCHEZ: As we drive higher, we're met by a sudden ground blizzard. I expected it would be extreme, but this is unimaginable. There are places on earth where you feel God's fury, but I can't imagine any of them being any worse than this, what we're feeling right now. I'm at almost 12,000 feet. This is the continental divide. I've been in enough hurricanes to know what hurricane force gusts, if not winds, feel like. This is easily at least 60 miles an hour gusts that are blowing through here. At times, it's difficult to stand up. It's a fighting cold. It's hard to see. In fact, it's downright painful. The question now is if you were stuck in these conditions, what do you do? How do you survive?
We listen with the help of two renowned mountaineering experts who teach the first order of business is to build a snow cave. Without it, you will not survive. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will just get in there, into that cave, get on our packs to insulate ourselves from the snow and stay warm, huddle close together all night.
SANCHEZ: Even in a snow cave, you could still get slammed by an avalanche, but experienced mountaineers avoid it by taking into account both slope and snow density when figuring out where to camp. We can't see the top of that peak. Look straight up here. Because of this wind, you can't see it. But could that start an avalanche at any time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not tall enough right now to start an avalanche. If it did slide, it has no energy.
SANCHEZ: But by far the biggest killer is the weather itself. Within hours of being exposed, mountaineers can suffer hypothermia which causes them to become strangely delusional.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you'd eventually, because of (INAUDIBLE) think that the snow is really warm and soft and lay down and go to sleep forever.
SANCHEZ: It is why some victims are found disrobed. They actually believe it's warm in freezing weather. Experts recommend not going into these conditions without a shovel, a backpack, a head lamp, a compact stove to melt water and at least a sleeping bag. They say even with these items, under extreme conditions, you'll still only be able to hold on for so long. Rick Sanchez, CNN, Loveland Pass, Colorado.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Get a fresh perspective on the day's top stories from Anderson Cooper. You can join "AC 360" week nights at 10:00 Eastern.
HOLMES: Well, two years, 1200 miles. That's not enough to keep Sam and Alice apart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at you. Oh, you look so good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That's so cute the way (INAUDIBLE). Up next we have a very happy reunion to tell you about. Veronica, hello.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM: Good morning to you. What is this Miss USA dethrowned, you say? Could it be? I mean could it be, the beauty pageant princess is being pushed out. We'll have the details. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Some other headlines across America. Police say they want to talk to this man about the abduction of a Brazilian couple's baby. Police say (INAUDIBLE) is a known enforcer in a human smuggling ring. Authorities want to see what, if anything, he knows about the abduction of a-month-old baby. The infant was taken from his mother at knife point earlier this month in Ft. Myers, Florida. Police do not call Cuelo (ph) a suspect. The baby boy has been missing since December 1st. Investigators say he might have been taken because his parents owed money to human smugglers.
NGUYEN: Executions on hold in two states. In Florida they are investigating whether executioners messed up when they gave Angel Nievez (ph) Diaz a lethal injection. It took over 30 minutes for the convicted murder to die on the table. That is about twice as long as normal. Meanwhile, a Federal judge in California ruled legal injections in that state are cruel and unusual. The judge says there are problems with California's injection process.
HOLMES: A judge orders a paternity test in the case of a woman accusing three Duke lacrosse players of rape. CNN affiliate WRAL reports the woman will give birth in February. Defense attorneys say none of the DNA evidence in the case matches the defendants or any of the lacrosse team.
NGUYEN: And we love this story. It was one dog gone happy ending for a Florida family. Two years ago, the golden retriever you're about to see named Sam - there's Sam -- was reported missing from his home in Tampa. Mind you, two years ago. Then two nights ago Sam's family got a call saying he had been found in Illinois. Animal control workers traced his owner through a microchip in his body. Now here's the thing. No one knows how Sam made the 1200 mile trip all the way to Chicago. Only Sam knows that, and he's not talking.
DE LA CRUZ: I think Sam hitched a ride. Yeah.
HOLMES: Nah. Maybe he drove.
DE LA CRUZ: He did not.
HOLMES: Maybe he did.
DE LA CRUZ: You're right. I think he drove.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) Veronica de la Cruz, tell us about, it's surf's up.
DE LA CRUZ: The surf is up at cnn.com. I'm going to tell you what people are looking at this morning and I'm sure it's no surprise to you maybe Betty that Paris and Britney, they're still topping that list.
HOLMES: I've been on that story all morning.
DE LA CRUZ: You have. We're going to get to that in just a second. But first, another story that a lot of you are clicking on. You're fired. Yes, you TJ.
HOLMES: Oh, I know how that feels. DE LA CRUZ: This is what we're talking about here. This is Judith Reagan, OJ Simpson's would-be publisher. She was ousted about a month after the controversial project was cancelled. Reagan was best known for producing best sellers by Jose Canseco, Kathy Griffin and Drew Barrymore.
All right TJ, now back to Paris and Britney. Here's the scoop. Paris Hilton is saying, no, she didn't write it but yes, she does agree with the message. Someone posted a note on Hilton's My Space page, defending the all night partying of new friend Britney Spears. The note defended Spears against criticism the pop star was neglecting her two babies to hit the clubs.
Also on that list this morning, will she lose her crown because she has been hitting the clubs? Organizers of the Miss USA pageant are evaluating the alleged bad behavior of the reigning winner Tara Conner. The 20-year old has reportedly been hitting the big apple hard, partying all hours of the night and missing appearances. The Miss USA pageant is a joint venture between NBC and Donald Trump, so is the Donald ready to say, you are fired? The web site TMZ.com is saying Connor's dethroning is imminent. We will keep you posted. And you can find all those details online at cnn.com/most popular.
Another thing that we are keeping a close eye on this morning is "Time" magazine's people of the year.
NGUYEN: That's right. It's going to be unveiled shortly.
DE LA CRUZ: And we've been asking people to write in with their thoughts on who should receive that honor.
NGUYEN: I can't imagine (INAUDIBLE) what names are on that list.
DE LA CRUZ: Not Tara Conner, that's for sure. Barack Obama, a lot of e mails on Barack Obama, also President Bush, Nancy Pelosi and a couple that I think are great, our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Amish community.
NGUYEN: Especially in light of all that's happened with that shooting and how they came back from that and even forgave the shooter in that. Yeah, I could see that definitely. We'll know a little bit later today. I know there's a special tonight at CNN.
DE LA CRUZ: That's right.
HOLMES: No chance Paris is going to get that one.
DE LA CRUZ: It's not Britney, not Tara Connor, don't think they're going to be making that list.
NGUYEN: Maybe Sam will get it. After all, he went 1200 miles, right.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) across the country.
NGUYEN: Thank you, Veronica. We have a look at D.C.'s most famous landmarks in a way you've never seen before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People look at the buildings sometimes and then they look real close and go, that's plant material? It really is kind of a comment on the wonderful world of plants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yeah, take a good look. That's a plant. The story straight ahead. You won't believe your eyes.
HOLMES: And then a little later, another eye-opening story about this gentleman and the knock in the head that changed his life. We're going to be talking about this strange story in the water cooler.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Check that out there.
HOLMES: Believe it or not, those buildings and whatnot you're seeing likely have more than a few chestnuts and even acorns, sticks, leaves and gourds. If it grows, it was game to be used in the Washington, D.C. botanical gardens. CNN went to take a closer look at the original display that highlights the beauty and utility of earth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL BUSSE, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: All the buildings from the Washington mall are totally made out of plant material. So what you're looking at is actually could be an acorn. It could be a stick, a seed pod. We're expressing everything through the whole world of plants. That's actually the biggest building I think we've ever done. It's eight feet wide and almost eight feet tall.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my goodness. They even have the little --
BUSSE: We almost done (ph) like a corn husk doll but then she has an acorn for a face and has a honey locust thorn for a sword. There's lots of oak trees and lots of different shapes of acorns. He's wearing eucalyptus leaves makes his pants. And I know on Jefferson, the little ruffles, that's a lichen and he's actually wearing a robe of a sycamore bark that came from our tree in the front yard. That gourd was more than a foot across. So the building actually got proportioned to the gourd. It almost looks so real that the stem sort of says this is actually a piece of a plant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fall leaves, I guess.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's what it looks like. Maybe they were green. BUSSE: People look at the buildings sometimes and then they look real close and go, that's plant material? It really is kind of a comment on the wonderful world of plants.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: It's time now for a special holiday edition of water cooler.
HOLMES: Of course. It's where we tell you about some of those off beat stories you may have missed that we call the water cooler.
NGUYEN: I don't know if they'll be singing this music. But as you know, Hanukkah began last night. Many Jewish families will observe the holiday playing the dradle game TJ.
HOLMES: Yes and this woman in Chicago knows all about it. She's put her own spin on Hanukkah with a world class collection of dradles.
NGUYEN: They are no ordinary play things, oh no. The 400 or so dradles are serious arts of work (sic) from all over the world.
HOLMES: And apparently worth some serious cash. We don't have an exact dollar figure here. They may be priceless, but certainly in the thousands of dollars.
NGUYEN: The music stopped and that's why. We'll connect the dots right here. This story is out of California, one of the more outrageous examples of political correctness that has just run amok.
HOLMES: Would you look at that. There is a high school choral group. They were in the middle of a public performance of Christmas carols early this week when they were suddenly told to stop singing.
NGUYEN: Why you ask? Well, Olympic silver medal skater Sasha Cohen was at the event, not wearing that of course and official word was that she was worried that she or the folks in the chorus and choir worried that she might be offended because she is Jewish and they were singing Christmas songs.
HOLMES: However, Cohen did not ask that the carolers stop singing and by all account, she was actually enjoying the music just like everybody else.
NGUYEN: Until it stopped of course.
HOLMES: Well some people are calling this now a holiday miracle, love this one, 82-year-old Don Carcos (ph) has been blind in one eye ever since a U boat torpedoed his ship back in 1942.
NGUYEN: Now recently he was working with a race horse when that horse gave him a head butt. Don't know why. But here's the good news. It knocked Carcos off his feet and we'll tell you why that's the good news. HOLMES: It might have jarred something loose because the sight came back in the bad eye after 64 years of blindness.
NGUYEN: Can you believe that? It's almost hard to believe. But Carcos says - now the man says the restored vision is not perfect, but it is good enough to feed his new best friend carrots every day. You want to keep it here in the newsroom.
HOLMES: We have trees down, power's out, cold weather sticking around. We've been talking about this all morning. The past couple days really, we're going to go live to Seattle to find out how folks are recovering after a deadly storm.
NGUYEN: And in Oregon, searchers hope that a break in the weather will be just the boost that they need in their search for three missing climbers. There is a news conference planned for noon Eastern and CNN will bring that to you live. Those stories straight ahead right here in the newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
