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Milwaukee Mayor Attacked; Five African American Women Killed in North Carolina; Woodstock 40th Anniversary; High Heels Trigger Pain
Aired August 16, 2009 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: A new salvo in the battle over health care coverage. Is the public option in or is it out?
Dry weather fuels California's wildfire as crews making progress against the plain. And a big city mayor comes to the aid of a woman calling for help only to get hit in the head with a pipe. The attacker still on the loose today.
Hello, I'm Melissa Long, in today for Fredricka Whitfield and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We focus our attention right now in the severe weather in the southeast due to the sudden development of a tropical storm it is taking aim right now at the Florida panhandle. Let's got more on the storm from CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. She's in the CNN severe weather center. And we were talking about Ana, we were talking about bill, now this is the focus.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Claudette, and it's focused because it is, you know, aimed right for the Florida panhandle. As you mentioned this is a tropical storm. This developed in the overnight hours, tropical depression it has been strengthening since that time and will continue to do so until it makes landfall. Maximum sustained winds at 50 miles per hour and it is you know, less than 40 miles away from the coast right now.
I want to go ahead and show you some of the rain bands because we have been seeing that already pushing into the area, very heavy at times, over toward Apalachicola, up into the Tallahassee area. And occasionally, we've been seeing these thunderstorms wrapping around with these outer bands, in Tampa Bay also into the Orlando area.
We could see anywhere between three to five inches of rainfall along with those gusty winds. This is going to be enough to cause some localized flooding. In addition, we could even see some power outages. I want to show you a couple of the winds that we have been seeing across the area because they are starting to gust pretty strong. There you can see, these are sustained winds 13 miles per hour, 14 over there, up to 27 now near Panama City.
Down here near Apalachicola, we're seeing sustained winds, 20, 25 miles per hour. And then we're getting some of the stronger gusts in the 20s too over towards the Tampa Bay area. Now, we do have a tower cam I want to show you from Pensacola, from our affiliate, WEAR-TV and we just got a wind gust report at the top of the hour, 40 miles per hour here. As you can see, a little bit of the wave action and certainly some very dark, threatening-looking skies. We will watch those winds continue to increase in the upcoming hours. We could even be seeing a landfall potentially, even, you know, an hour or so from now. The reason being is that the storm is moving up towards the north and the west and if we start getting one of these scrapes taking place, landfall is going to be a little later, closer towards Panama City.
But if we stay on the current track, we are going to be a little - oops, excuse me, a little bit closer to the tip here along the Bend area. And so, that's what we are going to be dealing with in that area. Now, we do have two other storms that we are talking about. We have got Ana and then we also have Bill. And both of those storms continue to develop a little bit. Let's go ahead and show you some of the tracks that we have been dealing with both Ana and Bill, here you can see Ana.
The good with us with Ana is that it has weakened quite a bit today, so not a lot of structure still associated with this but it will bring some heavy rainfall across parts of Puerto Rico in the Hispaniola and also into Cuba. And Bill, we are a little bit more concerned about because it is going to stay a little further north of that track and it has more time over the land and that means, it is has more time to strengthen.
So, potentially this could be our first hurricane of the season, maybe even our first major hurricane. So we will continue to monitor Bill. It would be at least a week before it would impact the United States and that is still a big if that far out.
LONG: OK. All right. So Bill a concern, maybe seven days out, but right now, your focus today is Claudette. All right. Busy day for you. Thanks, Jacqui.
It's not rain but the wildfires causing concern and extensive damage also right now in California. 11 fires, various stages of containment, are burning state-wide. The battle involves nearly 7,000 firefighters. You have dry weather conditions in the tough, mountainous terrain not helping the fire crews with the so-called Lockheed fire. Roughly 10 square miles of Santa Cruz County have been blackened since that fire ignited that was Wednesday. Thousands of residents are under mandatory evacuation orders. But not everyone is heeding the call to leave.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WENDY DOMSTER, NOT EVACUATING: There is nothing more we can do about it. We could turn our backs and leave but we are not going to do that, just keep watching the weather. Go by that and good communication with all of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: And we have another wildfire near Santa Barbara being blamed on drug traffickers. Officials say the fire was sparked by cooking at a marijuana camp. Now, Taiwan's president is trying to get out in front of a fire storm of criticism surrounding his handling of the disaster surrounding the typhoon. He is accepting blame for the slow response and he is apologizing to the victims. John Vause is in southern Taiwan now with the latest on the rescue efforts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The military helicopters are bringing in the last of the stranded villagers now. For some of their relatives and friends who have been waiting here for days, there is relief. For others there is the anguish of not knowing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Help us, please save my children, I have been waiting four days already.
VAUSE: Says this woman. And at times, anger, especially at local officials.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They said it was safe and we didn't need to evacuate, now there is not even a road to get back.
VAUSE: He said. And the man who is the focus of much of the national blame is President Ma Ying-jeou, often confronted by angry survivors as he tours the disaster zone.
(on camera): How do you respond to people who blame you and your government and say, listen, this is all too slow to begin with and then when it did get under way, it just wasn't enough?
PRES. MA YING-JEOU, TAIWAN: We certainly - I will take full responsibility, whatever the blame is, because after all, I'm the president of this country.
VAUSE (voice-over): But President Ma says the slow start was because of bad weather. Heavy rain left helicopters grounded.
MA: Once the weather is good, one day that is 14th of August, we were able to evacuate 2,518 people. It is a record.
VAUSE: But there was outrage last week when he blamed local officials.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were not fully prepared.
VAUSE: So now he is seen comforting the grieving, apologizing, promising to do better. But as he opened a weekend baseball game, he was booed and jeered, protestors demanded his resignation.
MA: We will find out not only how to correct the mistakes, but also may try to punish the people who are responsible.
VAUSE (on camera): As the rescue operation slowly winds down, the focus will soon shift to rebuilding lives and communities. Taiwan's embattled president told me that simply repairing all the damage from typhoon Morakot could take up to a year. John Vause, CNN, Taiwan. (END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: It's been one week since that fatal air crash collision over New York's Hudson River and is it business as usual for the area's helicopter tour companies, business as usual despite renewed calls to ban these flights.
CNN's Susan Candiotti talked with one chopper pilot and also has the latest on the on-going investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Flying over the Hudson River, pilots better have razor-sharp vision and focus. It's a busy highway in the air. Another chopper suddenly pulls alongside while a small plane zips by, just out of camera range.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he announce? Might be on with the tower. All right. Where is my helicopter?
CANDIOTTI: One week after a fatal mid air collision between a sightseeing helicopter and a small plane that took nine lives, we flew with Pegasus pilot Eric Ross, whose customers, despite the recent accident, still clamor to see Manhattan's skyline.
For now, visual flight rules still apply for up to 1,000 feet above the water. That means over the Hudson, pilots watch out for each other. It's see and avoid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I just don't say where I am, I tell them what I'm going to do. We do it like driving. Northbound, I stay to the right. Southbound -
CANDIOTTI: Pilots can't let their guard down for a moment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is on the backside?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what he said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, coming around right here.
CANDIOTTI: We saw one helicopter come around and then seem to disappear.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got you. Down low.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Down low. Right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we didn't talk to each other, I wouldn't have seen him until it had become too late.
CANDIOTTI: Airspace becomes crowded over the Hudson, air traffic control radar warning systems can be going off repeatedly. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's constantly alerts and that really becomes part of the background noise to an air traffic controller. It becomes a distraction to his operation so he tunes it out.
CANDIOTTI: Before the mid air crash, the NTSB says an air traffic controller did try to reach the small plane at least two times but got no answer. Moving with uncharacteristic speed, the FAA just formed a group to recommend possible changes and they are not wasting time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: Susan Candiotti joins us now live from New York with more on the stories. Spectacular views. You can see why people love to go up in these helicopters, really amazing how busy that highway is in the sky as well, as you pointed out. What type of a time line does the FAA have for this group that you just mentioned toward the bottom of your report?
CANDIOTTI: Well, the FAA is giving this group only two weeks, two weeks to come up with some recommendations. This is a group that includes pilots and other interested parties. And I can tell you on this beautiful sunny day it is very, very busy out here again this day, with all kinds of helicopters and small planes. We saw one helicopter flying less than 500 feet along the coastline here.
LONG: Wow. OK. You mentioned just a couple of weeks. Any idea right now what those recommendations could be from the group?
CANDIOTTI: Well, a lot of people are talking about the possibility of creating a different altitude for helicopters to fly in and another one for airplanes. That's one possibility. They are also discussing this voluntary radio frequency that is currently assigned to the Hudson River here. Again, and talking about making that mandatory instead of voluntary for pilots to use. So, those are just two examples.
LONG: OK. And two weeks, as you mentioned, that's a pretty fast time line. Spectacular views. Susan, thanks for sharing those with us and sharing the update as well.
Well, for many critics of the White House health care reform plans, the stickiest sticking point of all, the government competing directly with private insurers. Well, what if the so-called public option were just simply off the table? Do you think that would change the debate?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Lawmakers are in recess. It is a make or break month, as they're meeting with constituents about health care reform and we're hearing that a government alternative to private coverage might not be a make or break part of the White House's push. The Health and Human services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, isn't exactly pushing hard for the public option. Here is the secretary with John King on CNN's "State of the Union" program.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I think the president is just continuing to say let's not have this be the only focus of the conversation, coverage for all Americans, lowering the crushing costs for everyone, making sure that we have new rules for insurance companies. That they can't dump people out of the marketplace if you get sick, that they can't drop your coverage based on a pre-existing condition, that you can't be priced out because you're a woman instead of a man and gender discrimination won't be allowed to continue any more.
Those are really essential parts of the new program, along with choice and competition, which I think we will have at the end of the day.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Let me just quite simply, so the public option is not a deal breaker, from the president's standpoint?
SEBELIUS: Well, I think that there will be a competitor to private insurers that's really the essential part, is you don't turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. We need some choices. We need some competition.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Again, that was Secretary Sebelius. Now if this public option is off the table could that be a game changer in the debate? Let's find out when we talk to CNN's Elaine Quijano. She is at the White House. She is actually -- you are not at the White House, you are in Washington. You are still in Washington.
I want to ask you Elaine about this, because it sounds like, sounds like the administration is slightly backing off of this concept and the public option or government option.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Melissa. You know it really does sound that way. What Secretary Sebelius said there in that sound bite that you just heard pretty much echoes what the president himself said yesterday at a town hall meeting. He basically acknowledged that a final deal would not necessarily include a public option. Take a listen to what he said at this town hall meeting yesterday in Grand Junction, Colorado.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it. And by the way, it's both the right and the left that have become so fixated on this that they forget everything else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: So the president is suggesting there it is possible, a final deal might not have the public option and he is also meaning to suggest that it's not necessarily, Melissa, a make or break point. LONG: Well, then there's another option we've heard about, something called a health insurance cooperative or co-op. Can you explain what that is and then also how the Obama administration feels about it?
QUIJANO: That's right. The White House has cautiously signaled it is open to this idea of health insurance co-ops. It is something that is gaining traction on a Senate side. Democratic Senator Kent Conrad who heads up the budget committee envisions it this way. These co-ops will get federal startup money, not all of it, but some. They would be run by members, not the government so we're not talking about government-controlled entities here.
Also, these co-ops would compete with for-profit insurers. And Senator Conrad thinks for all of these reasons, thinks that these ideas are going to appeal to people on both sides of the debate.
LONG: That's crucial, of course, on getting people on both sides to agree. Elaine Quijano, live for us from Washington. Thanks, Elaine.
QUIJANO: Sure.
LONG: Well, to Americans around the country have been glued in these health care debates whether they're watching on television, watching on-line or showing up at the town halls. Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser is now checking out some of the latest polls.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Melissa, we have seen a lot of coverage in the media of these protests at these town halls across the country the lawmakers are holding. And I guess, the big question is, are Americans paying attention? Take a look at these numbers from Gallup conducted a couple of days ago.
And you can see right here that seven in 10 people, according to this Gallup "USA Today" poll say that they are very or somewhat closely following these coverage of these town hall protests. 18 percent say they are not following it very closely. And you can see at the bottom there, 13 percent say they're not following at all.
The next question that comes to mind, is well are these protests having any impact on the vast majority of Americans out there? Take a look at some more numbers from the same survey, and you can see, 34 percent of those questioned said that the protests, the views of these protestors and of course, a lot of these demonstrators are mostly against the president and the Democrats' health care proposal, 34 percent say they are more sympathetic to those views now, 21 percent, only about one in five say they are less sympathetic to those views of the protesters. And you can see at the bottom, 36 percent say the demonstrations are really making no difference on their opinion when it comes to health care.
Another question is, what about the president's poll numbers, are these protests having any impact? As of now it seems not really so much. Two polls this past week, Gallup and Marist show the president still in the mid 50s when it comes to his overall approval rating. That was his rating before the demonstrations at these town halls and specifically on health care, it seems Americans continue to be split on how President Obama is handling health care. It was that same way before the town hall started. Of course, we're only two weeks into a five-week recess for lawmakers, so we're going to keep an eye on these town halls. If there are more protests and more polls later this month. Melissa -
LONG: Deputy political director Paul Steinhauser. Thanks, Paul.
Now you want to know even more about the health care debate, how the reform could affect you and your loved one, check out our special health care in America website, cnn.com. You can get the latest from the town hall forums, fact check, I-reports. You can read the bills as well at CNN.com/healthcare.
Health care isn't the only item on the president's agenda when he gets back to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. He is holding talks with the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. They are expected to discuss a range of issues including efforts to re-start the Middle East peace process. And then fast forward to Wednesday, the president is honoring 2008 NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson at the White House.
It happened in a flash, a wedding reception tent full of women and children reduced to a little more than ashes, all in three minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: In Iran, another mass trial of people detained in the aftermath of the country's disputed presidential election. This is in fact, the third round of these mass trials. Among the defendants today, an Iranian-Canadian reporter for "Newsweek" magazine, employees of the British and French embassies and Iranian-American scholar. They are among the more than the 1,000 people arrested following the presidential election back in June.
Also from Iran, an unexpected move by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is appointing three women, three women to his cabinet. Unprecedented in number for the Islamic republic. Ahmadinejad is naming a 50-year-old gynecologist as health minister, a 43-year-old lawmaker as minister of Welfare and Social Security and he says he's going to be appointing a third woman to the cabinet soon but didn't say who or which position. Now, the nominees must be approved by Parliament.
More violence in Afghanistan ahead of this week's presidential elections there, two children were wounded in a rocket attack in Kandahar. Police blame the violence on militants. Now the Taliban has issued new threats against polling stations, vowing to disrupt the voting. Farther south, two British soldiers died yesterday from wounds they sustained from explosions in Helmand province that brings the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan to 201.
Turning to another fight in Afghanistan the one for heart and mind. CNN's Christiane Amanpour travels with the U.S. military as they help Afghan students to cope amid the rubble of war. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Right here in the middle of nowhere. It's an incredible sight, row upon row of school children, organized into neat, outdoor classes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 1, 2, 3.
AMANPOUR: Several thousand students diligently counting in English. Even at this age, they know that they want to communicate with the rest of the world.
(on camera): I have never seen anything like this, all these children outside almost like classes, open air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Yes, it is difficult for them to study when their brains are boiling.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Hadji Amsinhan (ph), the education director, says that in his district alone, 33,000 students are now studying outside in the sun. Amir John is an Afghan interpreter.
AMIR JOHN, AFGHAN INTERPRETER: If we had schools, it's very important. Our kids, they can't get education in the future. They will understand who is our enemies and who is our friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amir John.
AMIR JOHN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell him if he supplies are from American students, much like themselves.
AMANPOUR: Doling out pens and pencils, dressed in full combat gear, Major Gary Knorr (ph) is trying his best to meet the needs here. He believes the children are the key to winning over their parents and essentially this war.
MAJ. GARY KNORR: If we can sway the civilian populations, and show them that we are here to support their children, then they are going to, in turn, not support the bad guys that are coming here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: To really understand what is going on in Afghanistan and why the United States is there, watch Christiane Amanpour's documentary this evening, "Generation Islam" starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
In Kuwait now, fire erupted during a wedding celebration, killing 41 women and children. It happened at a tribal area west of Kuwaiti City yesterday. Officials say it took only three minutes for the flames to consume the wedding tent. At least 76 others were injured, and some of them seriously. Officials say faulty wiring, faulty electrical wiring may have started the flames.
A story about a big city mayor bashed in the head with a metal pipe at a state fair. Why? He was trying to be a good citizen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: We want to give you a quick check of some of the top stories right now. Tropical storm Claudette is building strength and making a move toward the Florida panhandle. This storm could make landfall within the hour. Three to five inches of rain, strong winds, power outages, they are all possibilities if you happen to live in that area.
Two other tropical storms, we have Ana and Bill, they are stirring up in the Caribbean. We're going to get the latest on the storm's path from Jacqui Jeras, our meteorologist, in just a few minutes.
From California now, dry weather isn't helping the fire crews in their fight with the Lockheed fire. The fire's toasted about 10 square miles in Santa Cruz county since it broke out on Wednesday. Thousands of people are under mandatory evacuation orders.
Wisconsin police have arrested a suspect in the attack on a Milwaukee mayor. Police say the mayor, Tom Barrett and his family were leaving a state fair last night when he heard an elderly woman crying out for someone to dial 911. As Barrett started dialing the number, police say a 20-year-old man was arguing with the woman allegedly turned on the mayor with a metal pipe and started hitting him. They have arrested the suspect who is identified as Anthony Peters. The mayor is hospitalized right now in stable condition.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BARRETT, MAYOR'S BROTHER: Tom is in stable condition. I have talked to him personally. He still has his good sense of humor and he is -- a great brother and in good shape. He will be fine. He did sustain some pretty significant injuries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: What about the elderly woman? Police say she is a grandmother of the suspect's child, who was present at the time. The incident appears to be part of a domestic dispute.
A massive search for a missing Georgia woman has turned up her cell phone but little else. 38-year-old Christie Cornwell disappeared on Tuesday while talking on that phone with her boyfriend. Authorities believe she was abducted a man mowing the lawn found that phone late on Friday, about three and a half miles from where Cornwell was last seen.
Five African-American women in the same town, similar lives, similar deaths, possibly with something else in common they might all be the victims of the same killer. CNN's David Mattingly takes us to a lonesome road in eastern North Carolina that might be the haunt of that serial killer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If someone were looking for a place to get away with murder in North Carolina, Edgecomb County's Seven Bridges Road might be the place to go.
Nothing. Nothing but trees and pastures.
Since 2005, the remains of five women, all African-American and suspected prostitutes have been found here among mud, some of woods and crops. There are any number of places you can pull off here, like this spot right here. You can just drive off and disappear into the woods in a matter of seconds. Sadly, that's what's been happening to these women, they disappear, never to be seen alive again. Is this the work of a serial killer?
MICHAEL TEAGUE, FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: Yes, I believe it is. Yes I think the fact that the bodies have been found close together really would argue for a serial killer.
MATTINGLY: Michael Teague was once the state's top forensic psychologist and believes the killer is someone who could have a lot in common with his victims.
TEAGUE: Their economic level, their background, again, the same race, I think it is a person that would fit very easily within the environment.
MATTINGLY: All of the victims were last seen in the town of Rocky Mount. We went to where they came from, an area where prostitutes worked neighborhood streets.
ANDRE KNIGHT, ROCKY MOUNT CITY COUNCIL: Typically this is the area.
MATTINGLY: But we found the streets deserted, cleared by beer. Prostitutes are easy targets for killers, living fragile lives on society's fringes. Still, councilman Andre Knight says it shouldn't have taken years for the town to take notice. Is it just a matter of race or is it possibly because of what they do for a living?
KNIGHT: I think it is a combination of both, because even what a person does, they still have human rights.
MATTINGLY: A turning point in public awareness and the investigation itself was the fifth victim. Jarnese Hargrove, known to her friends as Sunshine. Friends and family publicly demand justice. Local authorities asked the FBI to assist. Like the other victims, Hargrove disappeared from Rocky Mount; her body was found in June off Seven Bridges Road. From the streets of Rocky Mount it is only about a 15- minute drive to get to places just like this.
For all practical purposes, it's the middle of nowhere and this is where investigators say that the victims are being killed. They won't give us a lot of detail about what they are finding but they do tell us that two of the victims were strangled, one was stabbed and beaten. Three other Rocky Mount women who police say are not prostitutes are currently missing. The sheriff of Edgecomb County calls this a critical time in the investigation, leading many to hope that this lonely country road will soon lead to a killer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: And from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, that was CNN's David Mattingly. A group of community organizers there now hoping some of the national attention will help break this case.
For the first time since getting out of federal prison, controversial NFL quarterback Michael Vick took to the football field. Hundreds of prints and video photographers capturing this moment yesterday, Vick took to the field wearing that familiar number 7 jerseys, but now the convicted dogfighter is in new and unfamiliar surroundings, Philadelphia. Vick is trying to kick start his playing career after serving an 18-month prison sentence. He hasn't played a game since the 2006 season.
Woodstock, you think you have seen it all by now, may not have seen these photos before and the man who shot them has plenty more to share with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Just a hunch. By now, you have probably heard it is the 40th anniversary of Woodstock this weekend. It was the music festival for a generation that came of age in the '60s and '70s.
CNN's Ted Rowlands tries to separate the myth from the reality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED ROWLAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Woodstock, the most famous music festival of all time, but it wasn't even held in the town of Woodstock, New York.
BOBBY COLOMBY, BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS: It could be called the best-held music festival. I think they started in Woodstock, but never, I don't think they got the approvals to play there or permit.
ROWLANDS: Bobby Colomby headlined the closing night of Woodstock, with his band Blood, Sweat & Tears. He says the 500,000 people who attended had a different experience than the actual performers.
COLOMBY: Impatiently waiting to go on stage, but there's not a -- you know that kind of gathering of how you feel, yeah, peace, man, isn't this love, brother?
ROWLANDS: Grace Slick played Woodstock with Jefferson Airplane. Now a visual artist she's painted a picture, literally, of who was there.
GRACE SLICK, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE: Janis, Richard Havens, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young, Joan Baez. The people who put on the festival contacted everybody they could. Some probably thought, oh, that's stupid, they don't know what they are doing or some thought, no, I can't be there; I have a commitment for something else.
ROWLANDS: The who made it to the festival but Roger Daltrey reportedly called it the worst gig they had ever played, rain and mud were plentiful but food and facilities were not.
SLICK: I didn't even go to the bathroom all night, because there wasn't a bathroom on stage that is OK for guys, they can lean off the side but a woman it is a little tricky.
ROWLANDS: For many of the artists, Woodstock was just another engagement and in 1969, a decent-paying one at that.
COMOBLY: The top pay as far as I knew, was $15,000.
ROWLANDS: But for half a million concertgoers, the experience was priceless. In Hollywood, I'm Ted Rowland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Well who knows better what happened at Woodstock than a couple of people who were there? They are also our ireporters. Mark Goff was a freelance photographer and got a backstage press pass. He joins us by skype from Milwaukee and is sharing some rarely scene photographs. Mark, glad to have you.
And also Susie Kaufman drove to upstate New York in, what else, but a VW bus with her buddies 40 years ago. She joins us live from L.A. Nice to see you as well, Susie.
All right, Mark, you're 22 years of age.
How did you score this plum assignment and who were you working for?
MARK GOFF, REPORTER: Well, I was working for anybody that was going to pay me at the time and I was a freelancer but I had done some writing for the local newspaper (INAUDIBLE).
LONG: Mark is working for kaleidoscope. Again, a publication there and was capturing photographs from right close to the stage. Then we have Susie who was not near the stage, you write in your ireport you were toward the middle of the pack and you were about halfway from the stage and you say you stay there had the entire time what did you experience? What did you witness?
SUSIE KAUFMAN, REPORTER: Oh, yes, I -- it was just the most wonderful experience, being right in the middle because wherever you looked in any direction, you could see nothing but people other than the stage down below and everybody was so happy and having a great, great, great, great time.
LONG: A sea of 500,000 people. Again, let's go become to the guy that was working, did you have any fun? I know we are going to show some of your photographs. You saw Janis Joplin. You saw Joan Baez and you were right there you were so close, you could probably feel -- at least see, but possibly even feel the energy on that stage, right as you were next to the stage?
GOFF: (INAUDIBLE) A third person who really impressed me was (INAUDIBLE) he poured a huge (INAUDIBLE) extremely focused on his instruments. LONG: Mark Goff joining us by Skype that is why we are not able to understand exactly what he is saying, how close. Skype's technology is just not working for us right now.
I want to go back to Susie as well, find out a little bit more about what you saw. Because I understand that Mark actually had to leave before he saw Jimi Hendrix and that was one of the highlights for you.
KAUFMAN: Oh, my god was that ever. We stayed to the very, very end. And it was so neat because most of us had fallen asleep. And suddenly, you hear rr and we are all awakened to Jimi Hendrix. There he was, bigger than life. And it was phenomenal. It was just -- he had always been one of my most favorite guitarists anyway, so it was so great to see him live. So great.
LONG: You also write in your iReports, here I was at Woodstock, surrounded by 500,000 beautiful people and I felt comfortable and safe and at peace and cared about, just on a natural high a natural high? Susie.
KAUFMAN: OK, truth be told, you want the real dope?
LONG: Absolutely.
KAUFMAN: Yes, we -- of course, we smoked grass, but that was the last time I ever dropped acid. I did do acid up there. I'm confessing to it, it was wonderful and it was so great that I made a decision on the last night of Woodstock this will be last trip I ever take. So, it was great. It was just -- and it did enhance the music and I had tripped before, so I was used to how to feel the music during it.
LONG: An amazing trip for Susie. An amazing assignment for Mark and a lot of the photographs that we have been sharing with you really haven't been shared with many people before. They are part of an exhibit right now at the museum in Washington, D.C. and I know that as you reflect on what you experienced and what you documented, Mark, you say that you didn't see a lot of women there you say the majority of the crowd, made up of about 80 percent men?
You talked about how peaceful it was as well, in your iReports, saying no fights, no riots, of course no cell phones, no surprise there and I know a lot of these photographs, while they are on display right now August through October, you had a hard time selling these?
GOFF: Yeah. (INAUDIBLE).
LONG: Mark, I apologize you can not able to connect with you, he is connecting with us via skype from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but again these are photographs that one of our ireporters have captured. He works in public relations now, but these are black and white images that capture the energy, the crowds, and the 500,000 in Bethel, New York. We are, of course, at the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.
Mark was just 22 years of age when he had the plum assignment, working for an alternative newspaper called "The Kaleidoscope" and he documented the Woodstock Music Festival. Then also with us, Susie Kaufman, she is an ireporter joining us from our L.A. Bureau, documenting what it was like, how transforming the experience was to be in Bethel, New York.
Susan Kaufman thanks so much and Mark Goff, you can find his work at the museum; it is on display through October 31st along with that coveted press badge. Mark and Susie, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Of course, we have been telling you this hour about a tropical storm that is churning toward the Florida Panhandle. Jacqui Jeras, our meteorologist is in the CNN Weather Center. This is what really caught your attention today.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. The storm is just hours away from landfall and we are feeling the impact as we speak. The 5:00 advisory just came in a little bit early and we have got some significant changes. We will have the latest on Claudette, Bill and Ana, all coming up right after this break.
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JERAS: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. I'm CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras with the latest on all our tropical systems. We will start you out with tropical storm Claudette, and this is the latest update showing you that the storm is less than 40 miles away from the coastline now. The maximum sustained winds holding steady around 50 miles per hour. As the storm moves in we are starting to see the wind gusts increase. We have had reports in Apalachicola up to 40 miles per hour and we are also starting to get some of those outer rain bands pushing into the area and bringing with that threats of flooding, some heavy rainfall. In addition to that some isolated tornadoes and for some reason, this isn't advancing if you could move, there we go to the next one for me, thank you very much.
You can see the showers and the thundershowers and rain already moving into parts of Georgia into Alabama, ahead of this system. We could see very strong, gusty winds even with those isolated storms as well. I want to show you a little bit closer where this center of circulation is. We think its right about here. So it's off the cape already and it's moving in a northwesterly direction. So we missed our chance, so to speak, of landfall at the cape and now we are going to be looking at places like maybe Jackson, Fort Walton Beach, Santa Rosa Beach, maybe somewhere a little bit closer to here, closer to the Pensacola area that means our landfall is probably another couple of hours away as that storm continues to push to the north and to the west, around 14 miles per hour there you can see that forecast cone, watch the conditions to go downhill as we head through the night tonight and then we will watch for that storm to be inland by tomorrow morning.
There you can see those skies start to darken from our affiliate WEAR- TV that is Pensacola Beach right there. Good news on tropical storm Ana it is now a tropical depression, so that one has weakened. And as for Bill, Bill has actually strengthened; it is now packing winds of 65 miles per hour, but forecasters now putting a little curve on it further up to the north, making it less likely to hit the U.S. So let's hope we will continue to watch this type of a track.
LONG: We will be watching about a week out from now as well. Jacqui, you wearing heels today?
JERAS: A little bit of a heel, yeah.
LONG: A little bit of a heel. OK, you may be very, very smart. We have a story coming up about high heels.
JERAS: OK.
LONG: Stilettos and how they could be hurting your long-term health. But you are very smart to be wearing just a short heel today. We will find out more.
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LONG: If you knew something would harm your health, would you avoid it? Like smoking or eating high-fat foods? Women need to look no further than your feet to see trouble down the road. CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Nicole Desilvis loves shoes, from Paris to Payless; she has picked up more than 50 pairs, mostly stilettos and other high heels.
NICOLE DESILVIS, SHOE: I like them for the style, certainly not for the comfort.
COHEN: Nicole has been wearing heels since sixth grade and over the years, her choice of footwear has caused her a number of problems.
DESILVIS: I have bad knees, I have broken my ankles a couple of times and I have foot pain 24/7 and I still wear them.
COHEN: Podiatrists say that is not unusual, bad shoes lead to plenty of foot injuries, especially for woman, yet many never associate their shoes with their foot pain.
DR. KATHYA ZINSZER, TEMPLE SCHOOL OF PODIATRIC MEDICINE: Heel pain, bunion formation and flare ups.
COHEN: At Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine, researchers are testing the effects of different shoe styles on feet, equipped with a runway, pressure plates and computer analysis, doctors use the data to better understand how different types of shoes put pressure on various points of the foot, including the balls, heels and arches. They are finding the higher the heel, the more stress on the toes and ankle joints, causing a multitude of long-lasting health issues.
ZINSZER: The chronic parts of wearing heels for a long time that actually affect the muscles, the balance, the actual deformities and the most -- the number one thing is the degenerative joint disease, also known as osteoarthritis.
COHEN: And as women get older, deterioration of bones and muscles may cause the arches of their feet to become lacks and lose support. Avoid the flats and the flip-flops, look for something with a little heel to give you balance but something that can still give you arch support without causing fallen arches or flat feet and heel problems.
ZINSZER: Our feet need support. There is a lot of different muscles; there are a lot of tendons and insertions that because of the different types of mechanics of your feet, you need to support them.
COHEN: If women exercise at any age, they need to make sure they have a good-fitting shoe that is designed for the sport they are involved in the wrong footwear can cause shin splints and joint problems that can give you a lifetime of pain.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Jacqui, as I pointed out, very smart young lady to be wearing a short heel versus a high heel today.
JERAS: Well it is kind of high but it is chunky, I figure that is better.
LONG: A little bit more for balance. Speaking of balance, you were juggling a lot today.
JERAS: We are juggling a lot. And more to come we have a tornado warning for parts of Florida. We will have all the specifics on that for you coming up in just a sec. don't go away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JERAS: All right. Here is that information on that tornado I was telling you about, this is in Florida, this is for Charlotte and Lee Counties. The public is reporting a tornado right now right around the Pine Island area and this storm is moving toward the north and to the west, so, it is moving in this direction, kind of different from what you would expect. So, this is reported on the ground, an actual tornado. You need to be seeking shelter immediately and taking this very seriously. Get to the lowest level of your home away from doors and windows.
Taylor if you could put this into motion for us so people can see looks like we might have another one up there toward the Port Charlotte area. There you can see the directions that these are moving away from the shoreline this storm could be clipping down toward southern parts of the Venice area as well. And this is in relation to tropical storm Claudette. A lot of times when we get tropical systems there is a lot of ortisitiy associated with them, some more spin in the atmosphere so we will get these weak little tornadoes, but you don't need a strong one certainly to cause damage. Melissa.
LONG: All right. Of course, we will keep our viewers posted tonight about this tornado and tropical storm Claudette. Jacqui thank you.
JERAS: Sure. LONG: I'm Melissa Long in the CNN Newsroom on this Sunday night. Fareed Zakaria and "GPS" is coming up next, with the first interview with the new Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren.
Hope you are having a wonderful day and of course we will keep you posted on the tropical storm and tornado that could be threatening residents of Florida.
