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Autism and Vaccines; Clinton: Israel "Insulting" U.S; Obama's to Urge Congress to Overall the Country's Education System; New Political Group Called the Coffee Party Gaining Members

Aired March 13, 2010 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you.

This hour, a study denying a widely believed link to autism creating controversy and a sea of questions. Tonight, a pediatrician answers questions live.

Coffee Party or a tea rip-off? Either way, a new group calling for political civility is gaining members. But are they garnering any real traction? We talk live to the Coffee Party founder.

And times are bad that some small towns struggling to make ends meet are having to do away with their police department. I'll take you to one town facing that terrible decision.

President Obama is sending a strong message to Congress next week: totally overhaul the country's education system. The president wants to see major changes to the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act. He says he wants to reward schools for their progress rather than punish those that aren't meeting goals.

Explosions have killed at least 35 people in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar Province. Forty-seven people were wounded. Afghan police believe two of the attacks were suicide bombings. The other two were mortar strikes.

One woman has drowned and a firefighter is missing in West Virginia's floodwaters. A helicopter is helping searchers for him. A state of emergency is in effect now in 34 counties.

There's also some very dangerous winds in the northeast. And our Jacqui Jeras is checking it out for us -- Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, this is really becoming a developing story here, Don. It gets worse by the hour as those winds increase across the northeast as well as those river levels and it's all due to one really strong area of low pressure.

We'll start out by showing you some of the worst of video. This is out of West Virginia -- southwestern parts of the state getting hit the hardest. We've had between one and four inches of rainfall here along with the snow melt, and that is bringing rivers out of its banks. People have been evacuated. As you mentioned a state of emergency has been declared in 34 counties. Now, we'll take you to Pennsylvania, not just flooding in Pennsylvania but the winds are also bringing down trees and power lines. And this is going to end up being a huge story into the northeast today, and the damage reports are going to continue to come in.

Now, we just got word out of Atlantic City, New Jersey, that the winds there had knocked over a crane that was working on a casino, shattered glass across about six city blocks in the downtown area there. Winds have been gusting 50, 60 miles per hour here.

I just got an update out of New York City, of JFK, 58 miles per hour was the peak gust. In the last hour, we've gone up to 67 miles per hour. That's much more indicative of, say, a tropical storm-type system than what we've been dealing with this, this springtime low for today.

Rainfall will continue to be heavy. We can expect to see maybe another one to three inches on top of what you already have, and you can see that focus of the heavy rain at this hour across parts of Massachusetts. The flood watches and warnings from New England all the way over towards the Midwest. And this is going to be sticking with us through the weekend and it is a very slow-moving system. Don't expect the rain to break until Monday, maybe even to Tuesday morning.

Look at the delays at the airports. They're just incredible. Everybody on this list is well-over an hour. Some of you, up to nearly five hours. There you can see that in Newark. So, travel almost crippled in some areas, Don, not to mention all the roadways which are closed because of water over them.

LEMON: All right. Jacqui, thank you very much.

We want to go now to a story that a lot of parents have some concerns about, autism disorders cover a wide range of behaviors and symptoms. More and more cases are diagnosed every year. One child out of every 150, that's according to the CDC.

Many parents are convinced vaccines are the culprit. And this week, a special court shot that down, saying there's no scientific evidence linking vaccines and autism. The ruling has hardly, though, quieted the critics.

I want to bring in Dr. Robert Gellar. He is a pediatrician and toxicology -- toxicologist, I should say, with the school of medicine right here, Emery School of Medicine right here in Atlanta.

Thanks for joining us.

DR. ROBERT GELLER, PEDIATRICIAN AND TOXICOLOGIST: Thank you for inviting for me.

LEMON: Thank you. So, listen, what's the most important thing that parents should get out of this court ruling? GELLER: I think, first of all, this ruling affirms what many pediatricians have been saying, that vaccines are not something to worry about as a cause of autism in your children.

LEMON: So, then, why are so many parents convinced that their child's autism was caused by a vaccine?

GELLER: Well, it's easy to understand why parents would be concerned, because the autism symptoms typically show up around 12 to 24 months of age, just after children have received many, many vaccines in the previous year. But our data now suggests that whether they got vaccines or whether they didn't get vaccines, whether the vaccines contained the preservative thimerosal that people are concerned about or whether they didn't, that autism is increasing either way.

LEMON: So, if vaccines don't cause the autism, then what does?

GELLER: Well, that's a question, I think, that American medicine and medicine worldwide wishes they knew the answer to, but we really don't. We know that some cases are caused by genetic problems. We don't know what causes many other cases, and it's that exact lack of ability to pinpoint a specific cause or causes that makes it hard to address these concerns.

LEMON: Here's one e-mail I got from a viewer, and I think someone in her family has autism. And she thinks that autism is genetic she says for sure, but something in the environment is making some symptoms worse for this generation. Do you agree with that?

GELLER: I think that's very possible. We don't -- we don't completely understand how the environment interacts with the genetic makeup we each carry. And so, it's very possible that there are certain substances in the environment or certain conditions in the environment that play into our genetic makeup and predisposed illnesses like this.

LEMON: OK.

GELLER: However, we don't know.

LEMON: All right. So, hey, listen, I have a couple here because we promised our viewers that we'd get some of these live.

OK. What is it about thimerasol? You said that many people believe it could cause autism. Or was one doctor's opinion what gave people something to blame, that gave people something to blame?

GELLER: Well, thimerasol is chemically related to methyl mercury and we know that methyl mercury causes severe damage to children when they had that exposed to them in Japan, in Minamata Bay, and in other places. So, when people were concerned and raised this question, it was a worthy question to study. But I think our studies at this point are very clear that there's no evidence that thimerasol seems to be contributing to the autism problem. LEMON: I think this is a great question from a viewer. He says, "I have a 10-month-old child. Are there signs autism in a child this age -- or autism signs in the child this age, 10 months old?"

GELLER: That's a little bit early for most children. Usually, we start to see it between 12 and 18 months of age, but there are some children who might be severely affected, who might show signs with that age. But they might as well be showing signs of other medical conditions. And so, I think if our viewers are concerned about children, whether they're 10 months or 20 months old or 30 months old, the best person to talk with is their child's pediatrician.

LEMON: Listen, Doctor, probably the most important question of all: should you then give your child these vaccines? And if so, how should you administer them? In a round, one round, or should you spread them out over time?

GELLER: Well, our best evidence is the vaccine schedule that's been recommended by the CDC. That's been shown to be safe and effective in the vast majority of kids. We -- there are people who wish to spread it out for some reason or other. But the evidence is not good to say that that improves anything.

LEMON: So, should you give your kids the vaccines?

GELLER: Well, the best ink I can tell you is my son got all his vaccines as recommended.

LEMON: OK.

GELLER: And -- so, that's my best answer.

LEMON: Dr. Robert Geller, pediatrician and toxicologist at Emory School of Medicine right here in Atlanta -- thank you so much.

GELLER: Thank you very much.

LEMON: These are important questions, and we appreciate you answering them live for our viewers.

GELLER: Thank you very much.

LEMON: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The announcement of the settlements the very day that the vice president was there was insulting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You know, it wasn't news U.S. officials wanted to hear, and the timing, well, it just made it worse. Are the Israelis deliberately angering the U.S. with an aggressive new plan? We'll ask a former U.S. ambassador to that country. Plus, she is a mother. She hails from Colorado. And now, she's reportedly been linked with a terrorist plot.

And if you don't like tea, there's a new choice on the political menu. We're talking with the founder of the coffee movement right here.

Also, time for you to weigh in. You can get your questions on like these people had about autism and your comments. We'll read them on the air. Just sign on to the social networking sites.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Israel is extending the closure of the West Bank three more days. It was supposed to end tonight. The closure started Thursday night over fears of violence. This follows an especially rough week for U.S./Israeli relations.

Israel announced plans to build new settlements on land claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians, and it happened while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting the country. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says this could hurt the peace process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: And the announcement of the settlements, the very day that the vice president was there, was insulting. I mean, it was just really a very unfortunate and difficult moment for everyone. The United States, our vice president, who had, you know, gone to reassert America's strong support for Israeli security, and I regret deeply that that occurred and made that view known.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You know, if anyone can explain why Israel seems to want to the anger the U.S., it is Martin Indyk. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration. He's also author and vice president and director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institute.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Listen, I want to ask you, do you think that, first of all, was this intentional? Did he do this to embarrass the vice president?

MARTIN INDYK, BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: No, I don't believe so. I think it was just business as usual. It's happened many times on previous occasions to other secretaries of state starting as far back as Secretary James Baker in the Bush 41 administration that with right-wing governments in Israel committed to settlement activity, it seems that whenever a secretary of state -- just about whenever -- or a high American official came to town, there will be some announcement like this.

I think what's different about this time is that it happened to coincide not only with the vice president's visit but also with the launching of indirect negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, which happened the day before Biden arrived. And that was after nine months of effort by the United States to try to get the parties talking again.

So, it really jeopardized not only the U.S./Israel relationship but the negotiations as well.

LEMON: So, then, why would Israel provoke, you know, a close ally with the timing of this announcement? It doesn't seem to make sense. Is Mr. Netanyahu felling more embolden in some way?

INDYK: I think he's emboldened in a sense that he feels that he's more popular than the president of the United States, which is unusual in Israeli where the Israeli public tends to be -- tends to love American presidents. I think he sees the Republicans -- and he's very close to Republicans -- coming back in Washington. And so, so maybe he feels a little cocky and maybe his people got a little sloppy.

I think it's very important to understand why the secretary of state is taking such a strong position on this, and I think she's doing exactly the right thing. It's because she's basically saying it's enough. We don't -- we can't tolerate this kind of activity anymore because we've got serious business to do -- trying to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, which the Israeli prime minister said he wants to do, and at the same time trying to work with Israel and the Arab states to counter Iran's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. These are serious strategic issues, and there has to be an end to the playing around.

That's the message that the --

LEMON: And with that --

INDYK: -- secretary of state wants to send.

LEMON: With that said, she said it was insulting. So, do you believe that this is enough to derail the peace process or the peace talks, I should say, with Israeli and Palestinians?

INDYK: It certainly has a potential to do that. The Arabs and Palestinians have been expressing a great deal of concern before this happened about Jerusalem and about activity in Jerusalem. And this issue was being handled by the special envoy, George Mitchell, in quiet talks with the Israelis, which as I understand it, he received assurances that this kind of thing wouldn't happen.

And so, now there needs to be very clear commitment by the prime minister to stop this kind of announcements, demolitions, evictions -- the kinds of things that really make it very difficult to move ahead to try to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

LEMON: Very good information. We appreciate your time, Martin Indyk. Thank you.

INDYK: Thank you. LEMON: An all-American guy with a secret wish to be a woman? From David to Donna -- we're bringing you an incredible story.

Plus, drastic remedy in a cash-starved Georgia town. No money, no police.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A look at some of your top stories right now.

At least 13 people are dead in a suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan. Dozens more are hurt. The Taliban in Pakistan is claiming responsibility. A blast happened at a security checkpoint where the military launched an offensive against the Taliban last year. This comes a day after a pair of attacks in the country killed at least 44 people.

The political alliance led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is leading in the latest results from last weekend's elections. A predominantly Shiite coalition which includes followers of an influential radical cleric is in a tight battle for second place with the moderate alliance led by a former prime minister. Final results are expected by the end of the month.

And here in the United States, California Attorney General Jerry Brown says the death of a former teen idol Corey Haim is linked to an illegal prescription drug ring. Brown says his office is investigating what he calls an unauthorized prescription in Haim's name. The coroner has not ruled what killed Haim who battled drug addiction for years. He died Wednesday at the age of 38.

Imagine living much of your life feeling that you are in the wrong body. That's how Donna Rose says she felt. Born male, she was a burly football player and wrestler named David, a man's man, if you will. David married, had a son, but at the age of 40 David became Donna.

She spoke with CNN's Drew Griffin about her transformation and why she had to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONNA ROSE, TRANSGENDER SPEAKER: There's nothing specific in my in -- my childhood, you know, that you could say, well, this is what girls do or this is what boys do, so you should have behaved this way. I knew how I was supposed to behave as a boy.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.

ROSE: When you look at those pictures of me, you'll know that I did a very good job of playing a role. And I would argue that the first 40 years of my life were playing the role, and the last 10 years have been the real me. But --

GRIFFIN: And in those last 10 years, do you feel like the real you? Is this now who you are supposed to be, and you are much more comfortable? Can you say you're much more comfortable now than you were then?

ROSE: I am much more comfortable. But the thing that -- in my situation is that who I am, what I am as Donna is a combination of 40 years of growing up as David in a world of privilege that white heterosexual men don't even recognize that they have and finally being able to let parts of myself express themselves that I had hidden for a long time.

So, the me that I am today is kind of a combination of a very unique opportunity to experience life in ways that most people don't. But unfortunately, transsexuals and transgender people continue to have to explain or rationalize or justify, you know, why they are the way they are rather than recognizing that people are complicated and we're more than just the bodies that we're trapped in.

GRIFFIN: Do you feel fully female now? Or do you feel like a man who's become a woman?

ROSE: I can't even begin to -- I couldn't begin to -- I wouldn't know what feeling fully female would be. I don't think that if you ask a roomful of women who were born comfortably in their body as girls that there's a consistent feeling of what your gender is or how it feels to you.

So, all I know is that for me and for many people who deal with situations similar to mine and Susan's is that we find a way to be able to live a life where we're no longer constantly thinking about it, where we're no longer feeling like we're living a lie, and we can just live our lives and go on. And to me, that's the goal of all of this: is to live happy, productive, fulfilling lives. It has nothing to do with clothes (ph).

GRIFFIN: Yes. The documentary that -- the documentary that we're showing tonight, it really documents how hard it is to transition.

ROSE: Yes.

GRIFFIN: But how hard was it for you to transition in your personal lives with your son, right, your mother that you just mentioned --

ROSE: Yes.

GRIFFIN: -- your family? How difficult was it for them to accept you as you are now?

ROSE: Well, as I came to accept myself, which is what had to happen before I came out -- which was a long and hard process, because there's a lot of shame, there's a lot of guilt, there's a lot of fear that goes with having this secret. But the fact is that I was terrified.

You know, as David, I was in a very selfish world, a very manly kind of a guy. And all of a sudden, I was completely vulnerable. I was completely confused. And it was an interesting process. But I'm very, very, very fortunate that the relationships in my life, most of them have never been stronger with my mother, with my sister, with my brother, with my -- the friends who are still friends and my son, most importantly. Our relationship is based on a real recognition of who I am, not based on what people want me to be or think I should be.

So, finally -- finally, I have to express that, and I'd have to say that the best part of being Donna is being able to have friendships and relationships that don't have to hide something below the surface.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And you heard our Drew Griffin mention a documentary we are showing tonight in our next hour.

Largo, Florida, City Manager Steve Stanton was fired after a newspaper revealed his lifelong secret. He, too, wanted to be a woman. Thus began his isolated journey to become Susan. And you can see CNN's broadcast premiere of "Her Name was Steven," right here next hour, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.

A global terrorism investigation reaches all the way from Ireland to a small town in Colorado.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around 7 percent according to the Pew Organization of American-born Muslims now have some sympathy with al Qaeda's ideology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A Colorado woman arrested in Ireland prompts a question. Are some Americans becoming more sympathetic to al Qaeda?

Also ahead, if the Tea Party is not your style, perhaps you'd prefer some coffee. The newest political movement could be coming to a coffee shop near you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's take a closer look now at the war on terror and a widening tale of international intrigue that spans half the globe. New just today a second American woman has surfaced in connection with a terror investigation that stretches from Colorado all the way to Ireland.

The "Wall Street Journal" and "Associated Press" report a 31- year-old mother from Leadville, Colorado has been arrested in Ireland in connection with an investigation into an alleged terror plot. Now, according to the "Associated Press," the woman has now been released. Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, was apparently a reasonable convert to Islam and left her home last September 11th. It's not clear if she's connected with another woman, an American woman from Philadelphia who goes by the nickname "Jihad Jane" and has been in the U.S. custody since October.

CNN's Jim Spellman is in Leadville with what we need to know or what we know about this strange case. What do we know, Jim?

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The family tells us this woman was converted to Islam on the internet. She met people on the internet who were Muslim and converted her online and to a rather more radical form of Islam. Only last Easter did she convert. It happened really quickly. The family here is even more concerned about their grandchild, this woman's son, six years old who has been traveling with her on these, as she's making here way to New York first and then to Ireland.

They have not spoken to him since this group was arrested earlier in the week. They are really worried about here. Here's what the grandmother of this child told me earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE MOTT, MOTHER OF JAMIE PAULIN-RAMIREZ: Now that little boy is in a foreign country with strangers scared to death, and all he can - all he's been telling us is, you know, come get me. Come get me. You know, I want to come home. And we need to find some way, some help to bring this little boy back here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SPELLMAN: And Don, I spoke to the family just a few minutes ago, and they tell me that that they heard the same reports that you mentioned and they're usually waiting for word about the fate of their grandson as well as their daughter. Don.

LEMON: Thank you very much for that. Jim Spellman.

And this case and the one involving "Jihad Jane" raising a troubling possibility that Al Qaeda may be finding ready and willing new recruits from among ordinary Americans. I asked terrorism expert Paul Cruickshank of the New York University about the trend in homegrown terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, TERRORISM ANALYST: Around seven percent, according to the Pugh Organization, of American-born Muslims now have some sympathetic with Al Qaeda's ideology. Now, that's a very worrying number for American counter-terrorism officials. It maybe not as bad as in some European countries, but worrying nonetheless, Don.

LEMON: Let us get back to this online thing, because a lot of this is happening online, and they're hearing about it online. They're reaching people on line and then that begs the question is our government or the FBI, do they have the means to monitor these people and the site.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, absolutely. They're monitoring these sites. A lot of them now are sort of YouTube channels or Facebook accounts, MySpace is being used and they are also password-protected sites. All these sites are being monitored for intelligence purposes, but there's something called the first amendment, which means that a lot of these internet sites can just function but there's very little that U.S. authorities can do about them, Don.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: We're hearing, Paul -

CRUICKSHANK: -- for counter terrorism officials.

LEMON: We're hearing Paul that this "Jihad Jane," this so-called "Jihad Jane" that she has been dubbed that she may take a plea bargain. The question is if she does take a plea bargain, the information that they could possibly learn, does this in any way inhibit the information that they could possibly learn from her either investigators or just Americans, general public?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, every time, you know, investigators, the authorities have a plea bargain, often they get a great amount of intelligence from suspects in these cases. They may be able to get intelligence from this woman "Jihad Jane." There's been, it seems, a plea bargain with Najibullah Zazi being involved in very serious Al Qaeda plots here in September. Able to get a lot of intelligence from him.

So every time the authorities are able to get these people to talk and to use leverage to get them to talk, that's a very, very good thing for U.S. counter terrorism officials trying to keep this country safe, Don.

LEMON: You mentioned a surge, you said we've seen more of this, I would imagine. Can we expect more of these and another way to put it wannabes in the near future to come about?

CRUICKSHANK: I think unfortunately the trend is for more Americans to become involved in violent extremism. Some of them are sort of completely homegrown and radicalized here and wants to launch attacks over here. The most worrying cases, Don, are the people going overseas, especially to Pakistan to train in Al Qaeda's camps there or also in Yemen, increasingly we're seeing Americans going to Yemen and becoming involved with groups linked to Al Qaeda over there.

And these people have the sort of terrorist skills which can make them very, very dangerous and make their plots more likely to succeed, Don. So those are the ones that American counterterrorism officials are most concerned about.

LEMON: I'm going to move on Paul, but what in the world would make an American want to do this, especially women, especially a mother?

CRUICKSHANK: It's very, very, very difficult to tell. But for a lot of these people, sometimes they feel lost. Sometimes they don't understand their new religion. These radicals can take advantage of that. They can say, well this is the true religion. Of course, it's not. Sometimes for them it's for a sense of belonging, to be part of something, to have a purpose. The radicals say, look, you can be great, you can do something to protect your fellow Muslims. They use all sorts of tactics to recruit these people and to persuade them to do these unconsciousable acts, Don.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Make sure you stay with CNN day and night for all the latest news and information about your security.

Americans are getting used to tough budget cuts hitting close to home, but closing the police department?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just a shock to everybody. Nobody believed it. I couldn't believe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I'll take you to a small Georgia town facing the ultimate in budget cuts.

Plus, tragedy in West Virginia as heavy rains and melting snow caused deadly floods. Our Jacqui Jeras will join me with more on that. Also that powerful coastal storm that's blasting the northeast and knocking out power to thousands. Jacqui has an update.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A look at the top stories right now. Clashes in Somalia's capital have killed at least 75 people this week. That is according to medical sources and eyewitnesses. The Islamist rebel group, Al Shebab is waging war on Somalia's government. U.S. government consider Al Shebab a terrorist organization and the group had been linked with Al Qaeda. But the U.S. says it won't get directly involved in the conflict.

A terrifying ride for three people on horseback. They were crossing a rain swollen river in Arizona when floodwaters swept them away. They managed to cling to tree branches until rescuers got to them. Two of the horses also made it out safely.

A doctor in South Korea says former secretary of state Henry Kissinger is expected to be released from a hospital tomorrow. Kissinger who is 86 was admitted with a stomach virus. Korean media say Kissinger is in Seoul for a security forum in a meeting with South Korea's president.

We turn now to meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui, it looks like this weather situation gets more and more serious by the minute.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, my gosh. Now, we got some pictures to show. Thanks to one of our iReporters. Check this out. This is the best that I can get up there for you so you can see what's going on. This is from (INAUDIBLE) I hope I'm pronouncing your name right. And this is in Largemont, New York. This is just north of New York City.

And there you see a very large tree, which has come down over a house. Now the winds have been gusting just incredibly. We've seen 60 to almost 70-mile-per-hour wind gusts. We're just a couple of miles away from hurricane-force winds. So they are causing an incredible amount of damage. And wee have confirmation that thousands of people are without power in the area right now as well. A very wind-driven rain.

I know it's a Saturday night and you want to go out on the town, but I'd recommend you might want to stay home as this is a very serious situation continuing to go on for tonight. This is going to last into tomorrow. The winds diminishing tomorrow, but still a lot of rain and a lot of travel problems as well as the flood. We'll have a complete report with all of this to give you a wrap-up tonight at 10:00 Eastern.

LEMON: All right. Jacqui, thank you very much. We appreciate that.

Education, spending cuts, and school closures are making a lot of headlines around the country, but it's not just education that is taking a hit. Consider the small Georgia town of Monticello hit by the same economic slowdown and revenues as so many American cities.

Elected officials there, like their counterparts around the country, are forced to make tough tradeoffs, and in this Georgia town, get this. They're about to shut down the police department. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice-over): Detective Roberta Anderson has spent 19 years protecting the small rural city of Monticello, Georgia and about 2,500 people.

(on camera): Is this an area that you're more concerned about?

DET. ROBERTA ANDERSON: This is the area, yes. This is Mason Street.

LEMON (voice-over): But soon she may have to hang up her badge for good.

ANDERSON: It's just a shock to everybody, nobody believed it. I couldn't believe it. But it was said that they have no money, so they cannot afford to fund the police department. It was cut.

LEMON: In February, the city council reduced the police force. Now there's just three officers. The mayor says barring a miracle, the entire department will probably be gone by July.

(on camera): You don't have enough reserve or anything to get through this economic downfall to keep up a police department? MAYOR GLENN NEWSOME, MONTICELLO, GEORGIA: Unfortunately, we have no reserve.

LEMON (voice-over): Mayor Glenn Newsome calls it the perfect economic storm. Just as the city was dealing with nationwide problems like declining tax dollars, the real estate bust and unemployment, it was hit by an unusually cold winter and the city runs the areas power, gas and water systems.

NEWSOME: People came in and say we keep paying utility rates. The council decided to lower the utility rate for electricity. It's called a power cost adjustment. When they lowered that that reduced anticipated revenue by $250,000 for the remainder of this fiscal year.

LEMON (on camera): And you already had a shortfall?

NEWSOME: Right. We already had a shortfall.

LEMON (voice-over): The city put land up for sale, borrowed money, furloughed employees and cuts programs but even that wasn't enough to save what makes up the biggest part of their budget, the police department.

NEWSOME: I think the council had no other choice. That's the only place that you can't have a deficit. I mean, we just can't do as the federal government does. So they had no - there was no other place to go to get that kind of money.

LEMON: The county sheriff will take over, but many here worry about safety.

NICKI WOMACK, MONTICELLO, GEORGIA RESIDENT: We've been told our crime is low. Of course it's low because we have the presence of the police department. But without the presence of the police department, you're going to see our crime rate go up.

LEMON: This week the city council got an earful from the people of Monticello demanding they keep the police department, make other cuts and audit its budget.

They council accepted offers by two judges to cut their salaries, is considering selling laid off police officers their old gun. They'll even rent the mayor's office in city hall. But a motion to save the police department failed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motion falls by a vote of 2-3.

LEMON: For now Detective Anderson and her two remaining colleagues are still on patrol, hopeful that somehow somewhere the city will find the money to keep them on the beat well past summer and the seemingly unrelenting economic downturn.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Closing the police department is a drastic move but guess what it's not unheard of. Byesville, Ohio is the same size as Monticello and its police department will close the end of the month. Highwood, Illinois with about 4,500 people considering the same move as is Auburn, Michigan. Population 2,000. Stay tuned.

Call it a response and maybe even an alternative to the tea party. They gather today in coffee houses across the nation. So what are they trying to accomplish? A woman who founded the group will join me and I'll ask her about all that. Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so I sent him another e-mail, please tell me you're OK. At that point I didn't get anything back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Remembering an American serviceman who was serving in Haiti when the deadly earthquake struck.

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LEMON: So in the age of internet it was bound to happen, when the tea party stole the political spotlight a year ago, it was only a matter of time until someone with an opposing view organized an alternative. Now someone has. It's called the Coffee Party. Today, our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser attended one their meetings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Don, about 40 or 50 people gathered here, (INAUDIBLE) It's a popular coffee establishment in Washington, D.C., and it was one of the 350 to 400 coffee parties that organizers say were taking place across the United States and even outside of the country. People here, they had a lot of things on their mind, among them jobs, health care.

They also said they were a little frustrated with the fact that nothing is getting done in Congress, nothing is being passed and they're also frustrated with the fact they say the federal government really isn't working for them. And that is something you hear as well from the more conservative tea party activists. So while they may share some of the grievance as a tea party activists, their goals are different. While tea party activists call for maybe a down sizing of the federal government, more limited federal government. People here want to fix the government and reform it and make it work for Americans.

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LEMON: All right. So Annabel Park came up with the idea for the coffee party. There she is right there. She joins us tonight from Washington to talk about it. Thank you so much. So listen, what prompted this movement? Better question still is was this movement prompted as sort of the, I don't know, to counter the tea party movement? ANNABEL PARK, FOUNDER, COFFEE PARTY USA: Right. I wouldn't say it is to counter it. I think we all - many of us felt at the same time a desire for an alternate to the tea party. Because we share with the tea party kind of a generalized discontent with our government. So most of us spent the past year watching kind of the train wreck which is the health care debate and I think we were just feeling like there is something very wrong with our government and that is really kind of our starting point. We want to figure out how to get our government to represent us better.

LEMON: So then why not -

PARK: That is really the starting point.

LEMON: So why not just join the tea party then and try to make your difference through the tea party?

PARK: Well, I think what we don't share with them from kind of what I've seen, and I'm not an expert on the tea party, not at all. From what I know about the tea party, it seems like they feel the federal government is not the solution to the challenges that we face collectively and we agree that there are things very wrong with the federal government right now, but we would like the federal government to work for us, for ordinary Americans and our interests and our needs. We don't want to abandon the federal government because it needs to be treated. So we -

LEMON: Go ahead. I'm sorry.

PARK: We king of see the federal government as almost like kind of a patient that needs to be treated. We don't want to abandon the patient. We need to revive it and have it work for us.

LEMON: You say this is a return to civility. I don't want to put words in your mouth but do you believe that among the tea partiers that there is not a lot of civility there and so are you countering that by trying to have a civil discussion. Because much of the things it says that you want civility, open dialogue, freedom, fairness, an energized electorate and engagement and you also want diversity as well.

PARK: Mm-hmm. Right. I would say that, you know, civility is important because many of us, I think, feel kind of alienated from the political process right now because the political discourse is so divisive and polarized. It just feels like it is either a football game or even ultimate fighting. People are just trying to win points. It doesn't feel like we are there to work together, cooperate and come to solutions. It feels very alienating.

LEMON: Well, I have to say to you, thank you very much. Let us know how it goes, OK. Annabel Park, the founder of the Coffee Party movement.

PARK: Thank you.

LEMON: Appreciate it. PARK: Thank you for having me.

LEMON: You're welcome.

Heroism in Haiti, an officer's final mission and a family's grief. How they are finding solace from the country where he lost his life.

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LEMON: You know Haiti may have faded out of the headlines in recent days, but for families who lost loved ones in January's earthquake, their grief is all too real. Lieutenant Colonel Ken Bourland was in Haiti when the earth shook. He and fellow U.S. soldiers were helping on humanitarian and anti-terrorism projects. Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence tells us more about Borland's last mission and tragic death.

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CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Lieutenant Colonel Ken Bourland checked into the Hotel Montana at 4:00 in the afternoon. He wasn't in his room an hour before Haiti erupted.

PEGGY BOURLAND, LT. COL. KEN BOURLAND'S WIFE: And so I sent him another e-mail, you know, please tell me you're OK. At that point I didn't get anything back.

LAWRENCE: His wife, Peggy, and three boys waited for days hoping Ken wasn't in the ruined hotel they were watching on TV.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Hotel Montana is gone. It is leveled.

BOURLAND: And they called and that's where he was at. It was hard. Because I think I knew that things were bad when they said that.

LAWRENCE: Part of U.S. policy is to keep Haiti functional so Haitians don't all come here. A massive flood of refugees in small boats could distract the Coast Guard from its primary mission, protecting the U.S. from terrorist attacks. Ken worked on the Caribbean desk and had been to Haiti before. This time he was escorting a new commander to meet his Haitian counterparts. The State Department oversees tens of millions of dollars that have been sent to Haiti for years. American civilian and military teams work on humanitarian aid, improving disaster response or preventing crime.

LT. COL. CHRIS THOMAS, U.S. ARMY: Drugs coming up from South America, illicit trafficking with personnel, money laundering, those kind of security issues that affect the United States.

LAWRENCE: Lieutenant Colonel Chris Thomas was also in the Montana.

(on camera): Tim was on the second floor and you were on the top floor in the corner.

THOMAS: Correct. I was standing in the middle of the room and the building just erupted. The room just shook so violently and the noise was deafening. The door and the wall fell on top of me and the building collapsed. You know, as the building pancaked I guess I rode it down.

LAWRENCE: As they were still searching the hotel Montana you decided to go to Haiti yourself to see it. Why?

BOURLAND: I just felt if that was going to be where he took his last breath I owed it to him and our kids to be there to see it and to pray for him.

LAWRENCE (voice-over): The military awarded Ken all kinds of medals. But it's the home movies that show you the man. The dad. The husband. Nobody called him rich or famous, they used words like honest, confident, and dedicated. Lieutenant Colonel Ken Bourland died on a mission he believed in.

(on camera): I know Ken wasn't there that long, but did Haiti affect him?

BOURLAND: Yes. It moved him. I could tell from his e-mail he was moved beyond words of what he had seen.

LAWRENCE: Chris Lawrence, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: We are bringing you the story of another life and death battle at 10:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. This one is against a scourge of aids in the nation's capital. This medical war is taking an unprecedented turn. We'll have that for you 10:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. Make sure, you're tuned in.

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN World Headquarter in Atlanta. CNN's broadcast premier of "Her Name was Steven" begins right now.