Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Abused Boy in LA Fell Through Cracks, Now Dead; Capitol Hill Exodus Has Begun; House Rushes $2 Billion Extension Through for Cash For Clunkers; Dodd in Early Stages of Prostate Cancer; Puget Sound To Benefit From Stimulus Money; The Last British Troops Withdrawl From Iraq Today; A Case of Cultural Miscommunication?; Some Take Monopoly Too Seriously; Recovery Proves Hard For Many Veterans
Aired July 31, 2009 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And our top story this hour, no one came to his rescue. Everyone failed him. Little Daevon Bailey from Los Angeles. To say he fell through the cracks is a gross understatement.
He said he was being abused. Others said he was being abused. Now, he is dead. And the man suspected in his death, still on the loose. Why was Daevon with him in the first place? And how many more Daevons are out there right now? He had hopes, he had dreams, he had his whole life ahead of him.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports from Los Angeles.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TYLLETTE DAVIS, DAEVON'S MOTHER: My son wanted to be a police officer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Devon was always known as Day-day.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESONDENT (voice-over): Daevon Bailey was just about to turn 7. He never had a chance. Last week, Daevon died a violent death.
(on camera): This is a tragic story about a 6-year-old boy who tried to save himself from abuse. But somehow, this first-grader's cries for helps went unanswered.
(voice-over): The polite boy with a big smile lived a broken life. His biological father hadn't seen him since he was a baby. Seven months ago, his mother said she was unable to care for him. So, she sent him to live here.
Neighbor Kevin Davis remembers the boy and saluted him. I said, "Hey, welcome to the neighborhood, little neighbor." He said, "Neighbor?" I said, "That's what you are when you live next door to each other. You're neighbors." He said, "OK, so I'm big neighbor, you little neighbor." So that's the way it was. Whenever I come up, I would salute him and he would salute me back.
GUTIERREZ: On July 23rd, Daevon's battered body was discovered in the house. DET. TINA CERTEZA, LOS ANGELES POLICE: Daevon was in the bedroom, actually lying on his back.
DET. FRANK RAMIREZ, LOS ANGELES PLICE DEPT.: He had bruising throughout his body, from the top of his head down to his ankle area.
GUTIERREZ: Marcas Fisher was nowhere to be found when the police arrived. Authorities have issued a murder warrant for his arrest, and the manhunt is on.
CERTEZA: He has a rap sheet that goes back 20 years, yes.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): How is it that somebody with this kind of a rap sheet would have custody of this little boy?
CERTEZA: I mean, it's a major concern, right now, from our perspective, how he actually did gain custody of a child with a such a violent background.
GUTIERREZ: What can you tell us about that?
CERTEZA: I can only say from viewing Daevon's body on night of the incident, that he had bruises from head to toe in different stages of healing. That's an indication it had been ongoing.
GUTIERREZ (voice over): Daevon's mother, Tyllette Davis, says she last saw her son a month ago and didn't see any signs of abuse.
DAVIS: No, I did not know it was going on.
GUTIERREZ: But Daevon tried to tell people. Detectives say, in April, the boy told his teacher Fisher socked him in the nose. And the school reported the incident to the Department of Child and Family Services. DCFS investigated. According to internal documents, seen by CNN, Fisher denied any abuse. The documents also so that in June, Daevon told his teacher Fisher punched him in the stomach. Again, it was reported to DCFS.
Doctor Astrid Heger, the executive director of the L.A. County Violence Intervention Program says what should have happened next was that the social worker should have brought Daevon to a special Los Angeles family clinic to be evaluated physically and emotionally.
(On camera): Dr. Astrid Heger runs one of these clinics.
Dr. Heger, was Daevon brought into your network?
DR. ASTRID HEGER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LA COUNTY VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM: No, he was not.
GUTIERREZ: Nor was he taken to any of the six other pediatric county clinics that specialize in spotting child abuse. Instead, sources close to the investigation say Marcas Fischer took the boy to a private practice doctor, himself. According to internal DCFS documents, the doctor said she found no evidence of abuse. So, the social worker closed the case.
Hager said if Daevon had been evaluated at one of the county's special clinics, things may have turned out differently.
HEGER: All of the injuries would have been documented, X-rays would have been taken, if deemed necessary. And then he would have had a mental health assessments and somebody working with him from crisis, and he would have sat there in the waiting room until somebody came to take him to foster care.
GUTIERREZ: He would not have been taken home and could very well have been alive today?
HEGER: He would have been alive today.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Thelma Gutierrez is joining me live from Los Angeles.
Well, Thelma, have you heard from the child welfare officials, and to be exact, it is DCFS? I want to know what family services had to say about this. Because it looks like the social workers within that program really failed this child?
GUTIERREZ: Kyra, I can tell you that the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services, Patricia Klount (ph), declined an on-camera interview with CNN, but issued this statement.
"Our department continues to investigate the circumstance around this tragedy pending specific details of our investigation, I have increased the level of management oversight on child abuse referrals."
The agency is also reviewing 500 emergency cases and planning on special training for their managers, and social workers -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: That training is desperately needed.
Meanwhile, do we even know why this little boy was living with Marcas Fisher? Why wasn't he with his biological father? Why wasn't he with his biological mother? Why was he with this, now, alleged killer who is on the loose. Maybe you can update us also on the manhunt for him.
Kyra, I can tell you that the boy's biological father lived in Oregon. The mother said that she was going through economic hardship. She had some of her kids living with her mother. Her mother couldn't take care of that child, and so she asked her ex-boyfriend to take care of this little boy, and his little sister as well.
I can tell you there is a massive manhunt going on right now in Los Angeles for this man. The DA has said anybody harboring this man, they will also go after them.
PHILLIPS: Once again, I just want everyone to take a look at this picture. This is Marcas Fisher. This is the man, who by the way, has a criminal record. On his criminal record, a number of crimes, including rape as a teenager. Now police are looking for him, asking for your help. He is wanted in the murder of six-year-old Daevon, who Thelma has focused on in this piece -- in a much broader scale, what is going on within DCFS. That's a much bigger question.
Thelma, thank you so much. We really appreciate your reporting.
As you heard Thelma, she spoke briefly to Dr. Astrid Heger. She heads LA County's violent intervention program. She has made it her mission to prevent more cases like Daevon's. She joins me now, on the phone.
Doctor Heger, I understand you are just joining me on the phone because you are actually dealing with what happened in this case. Did you meet with the supervisor yet today, there in Los Angeles County, to discuss what the heck is going on within family services?
HEGER: No, not yet. I think what we are trying to do is that I think the board of supervisors in the county of LA is outraged and certainly a supervisor Molina is triply outraged. We are looking to meet on Monday, and perhaps go before the board on Tuesday, and they are all up in arms because the county of LA, which makes this tragedy such a double, triple tragedy, is because we did build a system in LA County to make sure this exact thing never happened.
PHILLIPS: So what -- why isn't that system working? It's so hard to understand. Because there were so many people that came forward, including six-year-old Daevon saying, hey, I'm being abused. So, is there a problem with the program or are people just not doing what they are supposed to do?
HEGER: Well, you know, the program is unique to the United States. It is absolutely a fabulous program. It is only fabulous when the kids actually get to the clinic. Where there is a breakdown is that -- in this particular case -- instead of bringing the child to a clinic staffed with specialists, who identify the fact that the kid had scars everywhere. He was obviously being abused ongoingly (sic). He gets to go to a private doctor who may very well not have even undressed him to look at him.
PHILLIPS: Let me ask you, the fact that California is in just a huge economic crisis right now, where people are having to pay for things through vouchers, does that contribute to the lack of resources and maybe the monitoring that should be taking place within family services to make sure that little boys like Daevon don't fall through the cracks and end up dead?
HEGER: That's a very interesting question. Because in actuality, looking at the economics of this system, this actually saves the county and the state money in two different ways. Number one, obviously, it prevents ongoing morbidity, and in this case, mortality in children and promotes a preventative model of health care, which we are all trying to embrace in this country at-large.
Secondly, it is built on funding that comes down that's an entitlement funding to underwrite health care for these children. And, in fact, can maintain an absolute budget neutrality of this particular system within LA County. So there should not be any economic disincentive for having children like this have access to quality care.
PHILLIPS: Dr. Hager, we appreciate your work, because we know you spent so much time trying to prevent instances like this. We hope the investigation continues into DCFS so this doesn't happen again.
We were reading about the pattern within the system of these four children. Once again, I want to show you the mugshot of Marcas Fisher. If we could bring that up, one more time. This is the man, right now, that police are looking for. Apparently, they believe he might be hiding out with friends or family members. He is wanted in the brutal beating of six-year-old little Daevon, who, as you see, and just heard through that piece and talking to Doctor Astrid Heger has, unfortunately, been one more child to fall through the cracks of the social services system.
We will stay on top of this story and hope that someone will come across Marcas Fisher and be able to turn him into authorities in Los Angeles.
So many clunkers, so many little cash, a billion dollars isn't really a little cash. But the government program designed to boost new car sales and save on fuel is so wildly popular the money is running out inside a week. Just last hour, the House did rush through a $2 billion extension, and the Senate is expected to do the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW, (D) MICHIGAN: We have agreed that we are going to work to try to continue this program. First of all, it continues as is today, until otherwise notified, until dealerships are told otherwise. The House intends to pass a bill, today, that would add an additional $2 billion to the program. It would come through the Senate, and then next week, we would work with colleagues to try to pass that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And how do you pay for the $2 billion? Where does that money come from?
STABENOW: It would come from unused recovery funds that the Obama administration has identified, working with appropriators as a source of funding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: The senator also says that in this first week, Cash for Clunkers generated 200,000 new car sales. Also in Washington, a House committee that's been in limbo on health care plans to start its August recess on a high note. Republicans may feel differently. But it now appears that finally all the panel's Democrats support the reform bill that's up for a vote this afternoon.
In the Senate, attempts to craft a bipartisan bill are proceeding, but no more committee votes until September at the earliest. CNN's Brianna Keilar has the latest from Capitol Hill.
Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Kyra.
We have been watching just in the last few minutes, really the last few members of the House, who have been streaming out of the capitol, waiting -well, coming down, really, to these cars that are waiting here, as you can see, waiting to whisk them away to the airport.
I think we have some pictures of what we just saw. It was almost like the last day of school. In fact, our intern, Mike, was singing, "School's Out For Summer". I have to tell you, Kyra, it certainly felt that way.
This really isn't a vacation. This is called a district work period. This one is going to be critical for Democrats, who are pushing health care reform. Because when all of these House members came out, and they left for the month, they were leaving without voting on health care reform. So Democratic leaders have been circling the wagons. They have been trying to unify their members with a very central message to defend this health care reform package, that they are pushing.
But at the same time, Republicans are on the attack. They don't like this health care reform bill and they are going to spend their recess criticizing Democrats. Especially vulnerable in this case, those Democrats who are in some conservative districts, swing districts that can typically go Republican. They are really going to have to explain to their constituents.
And maybe, Kyra, what they'll be doing is listening to some constituents who aren't happy. And that, as well, could change their mind and impact what they think about health care reform when they come back here in the fall, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Also, too, if you don't mind updating us on the news we got last hour about Senator Chris Dodd. Apparently, he just held a news conference about the early stages of prostate cancer?
KEILAR: Yes. We learned about a health emergency that he has had. I am not sure, Kyra, if we have been able to see the press conference that he gave a short time ago. I know we weren't able to get it live in Connecticut.
What he was explaining was that he has early stage prostate cancer. As you know, I'm sure you have known someone who has prostate cancer. Frequently, it is very treatable. This is early stage. What he said is he is going to, during his recess, he is going to get surgery and recuperate, and then come back to work. He actually spoke a short time ago in Connecticut. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Secondly, I am going to be fine in all of this. Again, we caught this early. The great thing about the annual physical is if you get an early detection of prostate cancer, it is very, very manageable. The good news is, I am going to be back out and doing all the things you have to do in order to represent my state, and carry on the efforts we are engaged in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: But this is still a significant development. Chris Dodd has been a very, very busy senator. He's been sitting in as the top Democrat on the Senate Health Committee throughout this whole health care reform push, because the chairman of that committee, Ted Kennedy, is away as he copes with brain cancer.
Also, Chris Dodd is facing a really tough re-election in 2010 next year. Poll numbers have not really been going his way. He has a lot of work ahead of him. You heard him there. He says he feels fine and he is going to be coming back to work. We understand this is not going to effect his seeking re-election. He will still be seeking re- election in 2010, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Brianna Keilar, there on the Hill. Thanks so much, Brianna.
Diving into a stimulus project on Puget Sound, $5 million taxpayer dollars to pull up old fishing nets? Are the net losses worth the gross cash?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Picture perfect ending for Space Shuttle Endeavour's latest mission. The shuttle and seven astronauts landed not long ago at Kennedy Space Center, as you can see, here, in Florida, after 16 days in space. During the mission, the crew completed all of the major construction goals at the International Space Station .
There were a lot of storm clouds, as well, sort of affecting all the maneuvering, right?
CHAD MEYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, five times they tried to take off. Cancelled sometimes because of gases coming out, but a lot of it was weather. You can't land a shuttle through rain. You know, you have landed in an airplane, watched it rain.
PHILLIPS: That's true.
MEYERS: You can't land something that's 2,000 degrees and run it through a rain shower and expect it to last. It is going to crack up. There is rain there now. They have already landed it. They tried to take the thing off at 6:00. They had so many troubles. You get showers in Florida at 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
PHILLIPS: Tell us what else is going on.
MEYERS: We are also going to watch some severe weather popping up.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: I get to play with the Big Board here, is that right? We are going to roll it. How cool is this? We have these all- platform journalists, and Patrick Oppman went out to Puget Sound and he did a piece. Can you hear the birthday singing in the background?
MEYERS: They are having a happy birthday. They don't know there is TV going on.
PHILLIPS: Whose birthday is that? OK, fabulous, it's Stacia's (ph) birthday. She is one of our editors. Can you see them over there? There they go. Thank you, Roberts.
(LAUGHTER)
You know, it's live television, folks.
But anyway, back to Patrick's piece. He went out there to basically take a look at what they are doing with these old nets to see if it is worth saving the money. Are you up on this, at all?
MEYERS: There are 3,000 of these abandoned, lost nets in Puget Sound, 3,000.
PHILLIPS: Really?
MEYERS: There are fish in there, There are octopus. There are crabs getting caught in the old abandoned nets. Nobody is pulling them up and checking them anymore. They are going to spend $5 million of Mr. Obama's, President Obama's money, to get these things out of here and save crabs, save boat motors from getting into these things. It is going to take almost a whole year; 40 people are going to have full-time work because of this.
PHILLIPS: Wow, well, Patrick takes us on the inside. Let's roll the piece.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATRICK OPPMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Killer whales hunt in Washington State's Puget Sound. Now, they and this unique ecosystem are about to benefit from a sliver of the federal stimulus money. I am about to find out how.
(On camera): I'm about 15 miles from Oak Harbor, I'm meeting up there with a local group that's got about $5 million in stimulus money to recover lost fishing nets.
(voice over): Fishing nets? It's a much bigger problem than you would think. The Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative has struggled for years for funding.
(On camera): It says the stimulus money will help recover an estimated 3,000 fishing nets discarded or lost in Puget Sound.
GINNY BROADHURST, NW STRAITS MARINE CONSERVATION INIT.: We are taking something out of the water that is no longer going to kill fish or birds, or pose a danger to humans.
OPPMAN: If this was such a big problem, though, how come it took until now to clean it up?
BROADHURST: Imagine if you had nets strung across the streets that were catching bunny rabbits and squirrels, we wouldn't be discussing whether we should remove the net, we would be pulling them. It would have been immediate. But when these threats are down under water, you just have no -it is so much harder to know what kind of impact they are having.
OPPMAN: Diver Kenny Woodside takes to the water.
Eighty feet below, he begins the painstaking task of cutting free a net bigger than a football field, by hand. Over the ship's communication system, he can tell me what he sees.
KENNY WOODSIDE, N.W. STRAITS MARINE CONSERVATION INIT.: There might be more than one net.
OPPMAN (On camera): And, Kenny, how long do you think it will take to get the whole net up?
WOODSIDE: Maybe two days.
OPPMAN: The pieces of the net he cut free are pulled to the deck. So is their catch.
This is a case in point for what we've seen out here today. This is a Puget Sound King Crab, very rare crab, protected. You are not supposed to be catching them. But as they say, the net doesn't know that. This just got pulled out of the net and we are going to put it back in the water now.
(Voice over): By restoring the environment, the divers are also earning a wage. The net's removal project will create 40 new jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know we've got days of work anyway.
OPPMAN: Many of them for fishermen, who once sold sea cumbers and urchins to Japan.
(On camera): That exotic market employed several 100 people on these waters. Work now gone with the economic decline.
JEFF JUNE, BIOLOGIST: They are blue collar divers that taught themselves this profession. They depend on their own abilities to earn a living. This is exactly the place that this money ought to be spent. Because it is going to stay in the local community, it is going to support these families.
OPPMAN: Your tax dollars at work under water. Patrick Oppman, CNN, on Puget Sound, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: They are heading across the border and they're not coming back. After half a dozen years of war, dozens of fallen troops, the last of the British forces have left Iraq. We will take you there, live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Let's take a look at the Big Board. Dow industrials up 42 points. Pretty good market check for a Friday.
Above one of three American kids is overweight as we look at medical news now. CNN's own Larry King is taking the childhood obesity epidemic to heart. He is hitting the road with the "Fit Nation Tour" in San Francisco. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELINA JAMPOLIS, MODERATOR: We've got to lead by example in moving. I think eating more at home is a critical part of the equation. Really setting an example. I think we have to provide people with healthier choices, teach the kids how to make it fun.
THOMAS ROBINSON, MODERATOR: Many schools are doing a great job with trying to improve the foods available in the school cafeterias. There is still a real long way to go in terms of making fruits and vegetables highly available and highly attractive, and making the unhealthy foods less attractive and less available.
LARRY KING, HOST, LARRY KING LIVE: If you can educate schools, and teachers, and parents to in one of those meals skip the French fries and put down string beans. Kids can adapt to that.
JIM KAUFFMAN, MODERATOR: The simple rule is, whole grains; the closer to the producer, the better. The less manufacturing of it, the healthier it is going to be. So if we can make healthy, nutritious food readily available, people will eat it. We know that that is the case.
JAMPOLIS: I think it is really interesting to look at New York as a model for that. Because they recently changed in legislation requiring large chains to actually put -it is shocking, when you go to New York, and you go to the bakery to get a cup of coffee, and actually see how many calories is in that chocolate croissant that you maybe had rationalized in your mind. The problem -I think it has potential to help some people, but I think the people that need it the most will not pay attention to that information.
DEVIN ALEXANDER, MODERATOR: It is interesting what healthy (AUDIO GAP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: OK, had a little tape issue. Sorry about that. Bottom line, our Larry King is getting involved in our "Fit For Nation". Doctor Sanjay Gupta has been involved in this very positive series that we're doing here, for all of us to get more healthy around the country.
Well, when U.S. troops leave, a CNN hero says he will stay behind. This civilian contractor is on a mission to keep Iraqi children moving.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A string of deadly attacks on Baghdad mosques today. Police believe they were coordinated. Roadside bombs went off near five Shiite mosques, killing at least 29 civilians and wounding dozens more. Those explosions happened after Friday prayers ended. They appeared to target worshippers leaving those mosques.
And the British are leaving after six years and 179 troops killed. Britain is officially ending its military presence in Iraq today. CNN's Arwa Damon looks at the legacy that British troops leave behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At first, British troops were welcomed in Basra, held as the area that saved the region's predominantly Shia population from Saddam Hussein's oppressive regime.
Later on, the situation changed. Provincial council member Mustafa Atia says. "It became the opposite of what we were wishing for, that it would be a quick liberation and then withdrawal."
Hope soon became fear. By the end of 2004, extremist Shia militias were gaining control of Basra. British forces seemed to be sitting on the sidelines as the militia's enforced their own laws. In September of 2007, British troops withdrew completely from Basra, and the south was held up as the coalition's so-called success story.
It was anything but a success. The British-trained Iraqi police were infiltrated by militiamen, and the Iraqi army was incapable of keeping them in check. Women bore the brunt of the militia's brutal rule. Executed for anything deemed un-Islamic, from wearing tight jeans, lipstick or in Sabryia's sister's case, living alone.
SABRIYA, SISTER KILLED BY SHIA MILITIAS: They said, you don't have a husband? They came in and put a pillow on her face and shot her in the head.
DAMON: Finally in March of last year, the Iraqi goverment launched Operation Charge of the Night, flooding the city with Iraqi soldiers and their American advisers. And drawing British military back into the battle.
Iraqi general Aziz Swady was sent to boars as part of the operation.
The situation was awful. Mainly because militias as controlled the security forces, he told us back then. After this operation, the citizens started to trust the Iraqi security forces. The city began putting itself back together. (on camera): This is the second time in a century that Britain ends an occupation in Iraq, leaving behind a legacy of war dead. This is Baghdad's North Gate War Cemetery, where British soldiers that died in World War I are buried.
In this latest war, John Wilks, the deputy head of mission, claims British forces did achieve the desired results.
JOHN WILKS, DEPUTY HEAD OF MISSION: It's been a tough six years, no doubt about that. But I think what we have left behind in Basra is a solid base on which to build. We have in many sectors left Basra in a better state than it was when we arrived in 2003.
DAMON: But it came with a heavy price, with many mistakes that caused bloodshed that could have been avoided. The question still to be answered is, were the sacrifices made worth it?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAMON (on camera): And with a withdrawal of British troops, America's so-called coalition of the willing now becomes a coalition of one. Just U.S. forces out there. The concern as foreign troops begin to withdraw or draw down, is that the Iraqi security forces won't be able to fill the void they leave behind, that the institutions they are leaving behind won't be able to stand up against an insurgent threat, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Arwa Damon live from Baghdad. Thanks.
Still ahead this hour, the battles facing many wounded warriors long after they leave the war behind. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr joins me, with one family's story.
When civilian contractor Brad Blauser went to Iraq, he found out that one in seven Iraqi children live with a disability. He decided to stick around, even though U.S. troops were withdrawing. He has a new mission now. Meet our "CNN Hero."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Heroes.
BRAD BLAUSER, CNN HERO: Disabled children, they're really the forgotten ones in this war. They're in the back rooms, often not seen in society.
I came to Iraq as a civilian contractor. There were a lot of children that either drag themselves on the ground or they have to be carried.
There were so many kids out there with a need, and so many people willing to reach out and touch the lives of these kids. In 30 days, we had 31 pediatric wheelchairs that had hit ground.
My name is Brad Blauser. I bring pediatric wheelchairs to Iraqi children in need. People donate on my Web site. The wheelchairs are brought over, and I distribute them to the different military units and help fit these children into the wheelchairs.
The experience for me on the first distribution was awesome to see the smile come across their face and look over at the mothers and fathers. They've definitely been changed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's all about humanity. He wanted Iraqis to feel that there is humanity in America. It makes us happy to see such a thing.
BLAUSER: There is no paycheck. It's not really safe here, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, knowing that you've done something for someone that nobody else has done before. I made a difference in the lives of these families. Definitely, the sacrifice has been worth it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: You can nominate a CNN hero of your own on our Web site, CNN.com/heroes. Rememebr, nominations close tomorrow.
A child rape case in Phoenix. Some folks say it is a clash of crime, culture and communication. We will tell you how members of the community are trying to help now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Rick Sanchez working on a special week next week. And important subject matter. Afghanistan.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: That's going to be important.
There is something else that will be important today that we will be checking on. Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey. He says something that's interesting. All week long, we have been trying to drill down on what this health care proposal is. We have tried to find out some of the things that are being said, if they are true or not. Some of the things the president has said, whether they are true or not. We found not all cases are people talking the truth.
Now, there is this. I am going to read you something. There is this Congressman, Chris Smith of New Jersey, he says, the ugly truth is, this so-called health reform, if enacted, is going to lead to millions of additional deaths to children. If enacted, millions of additional deaths to children. He is talking about abortion.
It's an interesting argument to make. It is certainly very strong language. So, what we are going to do, the best way of finding out if something is true or what someone means, have him on the show. He's joing ot join us here live, and I am going to ask him exactly what he means by that statement, and he will try and make some sense out of this.
Then, there is another story we will be following all next week about Afghanistan. A lot of us know there is a war in Afghanistan. A lot of us know there is a war in Iraq. How many people are touched by it? How many people know somebody who had someone there die, soldier, or perhaps somebody who knows somebody -- or somebody actually affected themselves? I sat down with a woman who was just told that her son died. I had a conversation with her. This is moving. Here is a little piece of it, Kyra.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(on camera): How often do you cry?
LYVONNE LIGHTFOOT, MOTHER OF FALLEN SOLDIER: I cry every now and then at night. I don't get much sleep. Then, sometimes I be thinking I be hearing somebody saying "Mom."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: I'll tell you.
PHILLIPS: You know, Rick, you have hit a hot button issue for me, because it drives me crazy, and we do it here at CNN. We read these scripts about numbers, five soldiers killed, six soldiers killed, seven airmen killed. You know, numbers, numbers, numbers. You know what happens, people just glaze right over it. They forget about the war. They forget about who is dying, they forget about the families that they leave behind.
I am so glad that you are talking to the families and showing the pictures, because that's what we have to do. We have to name our fallen heroes. Forget the numbers. We need to talk about each individual and tell their personal story.
SANCHEZ: Lyvonne takes us through the moment when she gets the knock on the door and what exactly the pastor says to her, what her reaction is, and then we will follow her along until Tuesday. Her son will be buried at Arlington, and we'll be there for that. It will be a very sensitive story but I think a story all Americans should see.
PHILLIPS: I think that's probably the first time we have ever taken it to that extreme, showing all those parts. It's tough, tough to get on the inside and show all the levels of what these families go through when they lose someone in these wars. I really look forward to it, Rick. I think it is fantastic you are doing this.
SANCHEZ: Thanks, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Something else that we have not wanted to lose sight of. That's the five young refugees from West Africa linked by heritage and allegedly to a horrific crime. We're talking about those four boys, ages 9 to 14 charged of gang raping a little 8-year-old girl. The girl's family apparently blamed her.
We started talking about this two weeks ago. We have been following this story every day. When we interviewed the Liberian president -- you may remember, we interviewed her live. Now, members of Phoenix's Liberian community are getting involved themselves as well.
Marissa Wingate has been following the story from us. She is from our affiliate KPPK. She brings us an update today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARISSA WINGATE, KPPK-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was an alleged gang rape of an eight-year-old Liberian refugee inside this shed that started it all.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What started here as an event in an apartment complex has now blown into a full international event.
WINGATE: So, the Liberian community, including the victim's father and even the mother of one of the four young suspects, showed up to meet with police. And we did, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are not prepared to issue a statement today. They are not prepared to issue a statement today.
WINGATE: While community representatives did not want the family to talk to us or even those close to the family to comment, they did.
(off camera): What would you like to say?
(voice-over): James Niemah (ph) is the family's preacher and now the father's interpreter.
WINGATE (off camera): Do you think the father wants his child back?
NIEMAH (ph): Of course.
WINGATE: But police have said all along the father was ashamed and disowned his daughter.
(off camera): They were mad at her, right? They were upset because she went out and hung out with the boys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They got upset. They got upset, that's true. But they never disowned her. We want the world to know that.
WINGATE: Did they blame her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I can't tell. They were angry.
WINGATE (voice-over): But we have video of the sister blaming her.
(on camera): You blame it on her?
RAPE VICTIM'S SISTER (unidentified): Of course, I'm blaming her because if she was not going to go out, this was not going to happen.
WINGATE (voice-over): And the mom denied anything happened.
RAPE VICTIM'S MOTHER (unidentified): In my own mind, nothing happened to my daughter. Nothing happened to my daughter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was probably a misunderstanding of communication. He doesn't understand English very well. OK?
WINGATE (off camera): OK? But the mom said no one -- we have her -- no one touched my daughter, this never happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A matter of miscommunication.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are some cross cultural communication issues here.
WINGATE (voice-over): And so the purpose of the meeting.
(off camera): James, what would you want people to know?
NIVEAH: People don't know that we are loving people, and we are doing our best to resolve the issue.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: OK, I saw this story, and all I could think was, thank heavens she didn't sink his battleship. Here is a story of Monopoly mayhem in Michigan. Don't pass-go. Don't collect 200 bucks. Just go directly to jail. And the get out of jail free card? Forget about it. Hank Winchester from WDIV, enlighten us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANK WINCHESTER, WDIV-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you play the game Monopoly, you take your chances. You could strike it rich or you could land in jail. This man, Kenneth Repky (ph), landed in a real jail after what started as a friendly game of Monopoly with his neighbor ended in an alleged assault. You are about to hear the victim's call for help.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALLER: Yes, I was at my neighbor's house and we were playing Monopoly. He hit me and slapped my glasses off my face.
911 OPERATOR: Do you need an ambulance?
CALLER: I don't think so.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LT. DAN KOLKE, FRASER, MICHIGAN POLICE: The male subject who is the friend asked to buy Boardwalk and Park Place. She refused. He got angry and slapped her in the side of the head, knocking her glasses off and knocking her to the ground.
WINCHESTER: Neighbors are all abuzz about the board game battle.
NICHOLAS RENZE, NEIGHBOR: I thought that was real violent for playing a game that is supposed to be friendly. Like I said, I guess he takes his Monopoly pretty seriously. WINCHESTER: As for Repke himself, he had very little to say about his apparent Monopoly meltdown when we showed up at his front door.
(on camera): What happened with this Monopoly game?
KENNETH REPKE (ph), ALLEGEDLY ASSAULTED FRIEND OVER BOARD GAME: Oh. I'm sorry. I have no comment.
WINCHESTER: You have no comment? Was there an attack or an assault?
REPKE: There is no reason for this right now. There is no concern to be here.
WINCHESTER: Did you hit the woman?
REPKE: No.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: What the name of Parker Brothers is going on here? Are things so far down in the toilet in Michigan that people have got to fight over the fake economy, over fakemoney? It's a game, not a contact sport. I have got a game for them now. Oh, yes, a little game of Sorry, a Sorry intervention. Carol Burnett and Harvey Gorman (ph) really knew how to play that game.
(VIDEO CLIP FROM "THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW" PLAYING)
PHILLIPS: Now, that is what I'm talking about.
Straight ahead on a much more serious note, war is a team effort and so is recovery as we focus on our forces. We are going to meet a wounded vet and a devoted wife on his mission.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: American soldiers and their families are finding it harder and harder to get timely access to routine family care at Army medical centers and clinics. In fact, it's reached a five-year low.
A study provided by the Army to USA Today shows 16 percent of Army patients can't get appointments with their primary doctors. So, they are sent to doctors off base. The study also shows that 26 Army medical facilities don't meet the Pentagon standard requiring 90 percent of patients get routine care appointments within seven days.
Well, non-routine care is another story. More than 30,000 U.S. troops have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and recovery is a mission that they can't take on alone. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, met one young couple struggling every day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR: Sarah married Ted Wade after he was grievously injured in Iraq, losing an arm and suffering a traumatic brain injury. He wasn't expected to live.
SARAH WADE, WIFE OF WOUNDED VETERAN: I think every prayer I ever said was that I was taking him in any -- any condition.
STARR: But Ted defied the odds, and nearly five years later, Sarah is Ted's full-time caregiver. And like other military families, looking at a lifetime of financial strain to take care of a loved one.
Sarah has already lost jobs, insurance, the young couple's financial security is vulnerable.
S. WADE: Ed and I were very lucky to be able to borrow money from family members. A lot of people don't have that advantage. If we hadn't been able to do that, we definitely would have lost our house. There is no way we could have paid all our bills.
STARR: The Wades are part of an effort to push Congress to act. They want training for family members on how to care for their wounded and much-need financial aid.
REP. TOM PERRIELLO (D), VIRGINIA: What we have to understand, particularly in this economy, when family members have to give up a job or take on other expenses, it's important that things like this bill will help expand health insurance coverage and other needs for the family caregivers.
STARR: Sarah is pressing for the legislation she says could give caregivers the income they deserve for the work they do.
S. WADE: A lot of parents have spent their retirement taking care of their children, spent their money. They have lost their benefits through their job.
STARR: Ted talks sparingly but listens intently. They worry what would happen if Sarah couldn't work.
S. WADE: My gosh, I stopped paying into Social Security at a really young age. Am I going to get any Social Security someday?
STARR: Ted is determined to make plans and move ahead.
TED WADE, WOUNDED VETERAN: I would like to go work in a grocery store. And perhaps start part-time going to college.
STARR: But more than anything, this young wounded warrior speaks an eloquent wish.
T. WADE: The first problem is actually getting recognition as being a human, alive and being able to do something.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: You can see this young man who once served in the 82nd Airborne Division in combat, still struggling to recover from his traumatic brain injury. And families across the country struggling to try and take care of these young wounded over the many, many decades they have ahead of them. Many of them again losing their homes, their jobs, their health insurance while they do this.
Last week, the House finally passed some of that legislation, and now the hope from the veterans community is the Senate will pass it, it will become law, and these family caregivers will also be able to get the help that they need. Kyra?
PHILLIPS: They sure deserve it. That's for sure. We should be giving them everything they need. Barbara Starr, thanks so much.
STARR: Sure.
PHILLIPS: That does it for us. Have a great weekend! Rick Sanchez takes it from here.
