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Awaiting "Top Kill" Results; Spewing Oil, Venting Blame
Aired May 29, 2010 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good day there everybody. Good morning from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. This is CNN Saturday Morning for May the 29th. Hope your Memorial Day weekend is getting off to a good start.
I'm T.J. Holmes. 10:00 A.M. where I stand here in Atlanta, Georgia, 9:00 A.M. in New Orleans, 7:00 A.M. out in San Francisco. Wherever you may be, glad you're right here with us.
Of course, this is the big Memorial Day, a big weekend, big travel weekend. Supposed to be a big weekend for the Gulf Coast, right? Not so much. A lot of people canceling trips to that region because of what you see behind me, this oil mess that's been going on for the past 40 days now.
So, a lot of people giving up on possibly having a good Memorial Day weekend as far as tourism coming to the area. So what's a good weekend now? Possibly getting this thing shut off.
There's a possibility, according to BP, that they could know sometime this weekend, today or tomorrow, if in fact their latest effort is working. We'll get into that here in just a moment.
Also happening right now, oil investigation hearings going on in Kenner, Louisiana. You're seeing a live picture of the other room there over my shoulder where these hearings are going on. They're trying to determine what caused that whole explosion in the first place on April 28th aboard that Deepwater Horizon rig in the first place.
Officials from the Minerals Management Agency, also the Coast Guard who are on this panel hearing testimonies. It's been heated at times. We'll be dipping into that day four of those hearings, but they did start off, expected to go throughout the night tonight as well.
Let me give you an idea now of some of the other stories that are certainly making headlines today, including a volcano that everybody is keeping an eye on. This one's in Ecuador. Take a look at the pictures there. See that ash going up into the air. This is happening about 80 miles south of Quito, the capital there in Ecuador.
The airport in one of the largest cities there in the country had to be closed -- closed until this afternoon because of that ash. Nobody killed. That is great news now, but a lot of towns had to be evacuated for fears they could be in danger. Also, the leaders of South Carolina -- excuse me. Excuse me. That's a big mess-up. South Korea. That's a lot different. Leaders of South Korea, China and Japan meeting today in Seoul. The summit was supposed to focus on economics, but now centering on North Korea, which is being blamed for the sinking of a South Korean warship. The 46 crew members died in that incident back in March.
And also, the House of Representatives passed a bill that could lead eventually to the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Now, this is part of a larger Defense spending bill. Now, the president has threatened to veto this bill, not because of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the repeal is in there, but because of some funding issues. The expensive program he doesn't believe should be in there.
Meanwhile, CNN/Opinion Research Poll says that 78 percent of the people support gays in the military. Of course, this is the policy that's been in place for some time now that bars gay and lesbian soldiers for openly serving in the Military. The Senate is going to take up the legislation next.
Well, again, to this whole oil spill. This could be a big weekend for it, because we could give word of whether or not the latest attempt, this top kill method, actually is effective and is working, and they're going to be able to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Something like this never happened before. So many people right now transfixed on a couple of underwater cameras. What's going on 5,000 feet below the surface of the water. We have multiple views now, live feeds coming in to us, providing us different vantage points of that ruptured well head.
OK, this is about a mile down below the surface of the water. We're talking about this massive oil spill, the ecological disaster. People can only speculate now, but we're going to be dealing with it for years and years down the road.
BP's collaborative efforts with federal officials to cap the leak that's happening now. Let's tell you exactly what we know, which is that we are on day 40 plus now of this crisis. BP remains hopeful this top kill plan that is underway right now could work. They say it's a 60 or 70 percent chance that in fact it will work, and some positive signs so far, they say, that it is working.
The timeline as to when we might know. They said -- they told us yesterday that over the next 48 hours, so possibly today, even tomorrow. Meanwhile, cleanup crews in Louisiana are trying -- trying their best to just do what they can to save the coastal areas and the marshlands as well.
Also, public hearings we told you about into the accident, the initial accident, continue. This is the fourth day of those. They're happening in nearby Kenner, Louisiana. Employees of Transocean are testifying about how that Deepwater Horizon oil rig caught fire. Of course we know it then went down and this whole crisis started from there. And a lot of people along the U.S. Gulf Coast are referring to the ongoing oil spill in terms of Hurricane Katrina, and with the exception of death and human suffering, if you will. A lot of people saying they might be right in this assumption or the connections they're making.
CNN's Reynolds Wolf has been live for us in New Orleans all morning. Reynolds, your third trip down to the Gulf Region since this whole disaster started. Tell me how this was different.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This one's a little bit different from just the -- the anger of a lot of the people that I -- I definitely can tell you, the man on the airplane last night, flying in here. I mean, from the last trips, the very first trip I had when this first took place was in Venice, Louisiana. There was a sense of bewilderment.
I was over on the Gulf Coast, over in Gulfport, Mississippi a week or so ago. Again, a lot of frustration. But, this time, you know, people are just sick of it. I mean, there -- there has definitely been some anger towards the administration, some anger towards BP, and just some anger overall and just wanting this thing stopped.
So hopefully we'll hear some good news later on today, perhaps tomorrow, that, again, the latest endeavor will finally stop this leak and the damage that's been causing.
You know, we've been talking (INAUDIBLE) about the issues we have out in the open water, its effect on the wetlands, the effect on the beaches and the bayous, but you have to also think about what it's been doing to some of the bigger cities. For example, like New Orleans.
We're lucky to have Michael Hecht with us. Michael is a -- he calls this area home, but what is your official title?
MICHAEL HECHT, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF GNO, INC.: I'm the president and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Inc. We're the economic development agency for the whole southeast region of Louisiana.
WOLF: So what better person to ask than Michael to just plain and simple what affect has this oil spill had on your city?
HECHT: Well, it's interesting. In some ways, this is actually a more complex event than Katrina. We've seen some immediate primary impacts, no question, on the fishermen. I mean, these are people that are living check to check and this has been already devastating for many of those families.
But in terms of secondary impacts on restaurants, we really haven't seen that yet. The product is still coming in because three quarters of the waters are open. In terms of tertiary impacts, on hospitality, we did see a dip at first, but people sat back and they wanted to see if it was going to be safe to come here. But, today, if you talk to folks, the hotels are all booked up for the weekend, particularly on the coast, so the reality is that we have not seen that impact yet really on the hospitality industry.
Now, what I'm concerned about today is this moratorium on the drilling out in the gulf on the -- on the rigs. This is something that people have to understand, that we lived in a great symbiosis between fishing and the environment and oil for decades, and there are -- the truth is that there are tens of thousands of jobs out there in the gulf. So nobody, nobody wants us to go forward until we know what happened and how it's safe (ph) so this tragedy does not happen again.
But people do have to understand that, long term, if we were to go and simply shut down all exploration in the gulf, it would have dire consequences for the local economy, dire consequences for national security. And so, we're in a very difficult position of having to find a balance between safety and moving forward.
WOLF: And in the meantime, though, when you talk about this balance, you talk about jobs, to keep the jobs going, to keep people employed you have to have people still coming the coast. And not just here in Louisiana but, obviously, in places like Florida, Alabama, Mississippi. So you encourage people to still come down to the coast. If you have plans, don't break them.
HECHT: Oh, absolutely. Look, this place is still absolutely gorgeous. The seafood is still absolutely delicious. The the coastline -- I'm going camping with my family this weekend. It's still absolutely pristine in the vast majority of the places in it.
Of course, the irony is that you can actually come here now and get a great deal. So now would be a great time to come as an eco- tourist. Now would be a great time to come and visit and support this economy. We need you. We have to get the word out that we're dealing with some really unprecedented type of issues here, but for the casual visitor, it's still a wonderful place to come and we -- we really welcome everybody.
WOLF: OK. Mike, thanks so much for your help. We really do appreciate it.
And, you know, T.J. it's something you've been saying all morning long, that, obviously, it is a disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. This -- we're taking it very seriously and with certainly good reason. But even though we've got some of the waters that is are shut down, three quarters of them, federal waters still open for fishing. The coastline, as we mentioned, especially along the Emerald Coast, so parts of Alabama and Florida, it's beautiful. It's spectacular.
So if you have the opportunity to go down there or if you already have plans, don't break them as of yet. They're handling it out in the gulf, but beaches, for the most part, for the time being just fine.
Was it, T.J., I think three beaches right now in Louisiana affected by the heavy oil, but everything else is OK. HOLMES: You're right, and they -- the president made that point back to back days, Thursday and Friday. Three beaches on the entire Gulf Coast and those three are in the state where you are, in Louisiana.
So people, everybody, during a time of disaster, want to find a way to help out. You want to? Take a trip to the Gulf Coast. They could certainly use it right now.
WOLF: Absolutely.
HOLMES: Reynolds, we appreciate that and appreciate hearing from that gentleman as well. Thanks so much.
Of course, plenty of people in the Gulf Coast region they are fed up right now, certainly with BP and to some extent they're fed up with the federal government as well. Some are venting their complaints against BP and some mad at the president.
White House correspondent Dan Lothian live in Chicago for us where the president and the First Family spending part of this holiday weekend. Dan, good morning to you once again.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
HOLMES: The White House certainly aware of the criticism that's out there, criticism that's starting to come not just from Republicans but also some pretty high profile Democrats.
LOTHIAN: That's right, and -- and what you are hearing not only from the administration, from the president himself, that this kind of anger, this frustration is understandable in terms of people feeling that not enough is being done and done quickly.
And so that's why the president really wanted to come here and take a tour of the region, go out on a beach to do a number of things. First of all, tell people in the region and show them that his administration is on top of the situation. And also, that they're planning the do everything that they can to make sure that their lives are made whole. Also, the president taking full responsibility for this disaster, saying that the buck stops with him.
And so, again, you saw him out there on the beach, bending down, picking up those tar balls, explaining how on that stretch, seven miles of beach, they had put down some boom and -- and how -- what kind of impact that it's had in terms of mitigating the problem. And then the president sat down with area parish presidents along with other officials as well, regional governors, to hear their concerns.
I'm told that that was a very productive meeting, that they touched on a number of different issues, and, in particular, for the folks who were in that meeting, they wanted to know what would happen if, in fact, this top kill procedure does not work.
After the president made some remarks, I asked him about his level of optimism about that top kill operation. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: Mr. President, how confident are you that it would be -- that the leak will be plugged soon?
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All I can say is that we've got the best minds working on it and we're going to keep on at it until we get it plugged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LOTHIAN: So, the president also promising that the number of personnel who are dealing with the cleanup operation, that it will be tripled. But, you know, obviously, there are more concerns here beyond just personnel on the ground.
People really want to know that that oil will stop flowing. I mean, you can -- you can talk about the cleanup and everything that needs to be done there, but that oil has to stop first before people here really feel like there's some progress being made. And so the administration hopeful that some of these things that are being done now will work.
So we'll have to wait and see, T.J.
HOLMES: One more thing here, though, Dan. You were down there with the president yesterday. We -- we're starting to hear more and more criticism of the reaction and -- and response from the administration and the president and a lot of people said, you got to get down there, Mr. President. You got to get back on the coast.
This was his second trip, but even after he makes this trip, there is criticism of what he did on this trip.
LOTHIAN: That's right, because the president never went out and met what -- what you can call your, quote-unquote, "the real people". I mean, he met with officials, he met with the parish presidents, he met with the -- the area governors as well and that's very important.
But there are people out there who said, listen, we wanted to see the president. We wanted to shake his hand. We wanted to sort of tell him our concerns and pretty much the only interaction that the president had with some of these folks when he was driving in and out of the region were some signs that people were holding up. I saw one sign that said, you know, Mr. President, plug that hole, another one that said, clean up the gulf.
And so, yes, there is that criticism that perhaps the president should have gotten out of the car and gone and met with the fishermen or met with shop owners, people who are being directly impacted and have lost their livelihood.
The last time he came here, he did do that, but on this trip it was more of a chance for the president to sit down, at least that's what we're told by the administration, a chance for the president to hear directly from these governors, these parish presidents, to address their concerns and tell them a couple of things.
First of all, if you have anything that you want an answer to, go directly to Thad Allen, who's the commander, the U.S. Coast Guard commander in charge, the admiral in charge of this operation. And if you're not getting your answer there, you can come directly to me, to the president. They have that pipeline direct to the president.
So that was the main focus of this visit, but certainly people had hoped that he would have gotten out and met with some of the people who are being impacted by this.
HOLMES: All right, but the president there in Chicago, supposedly keep a low profile there in Chicago, if the president can do that. But certainly if he steps out, we will certainly know about it.
LOTHIAN: That's right.
HOLMES: Dan Lothian for us in Chicago. We appreciate it, as always, buddy. Thanks so much.
We're also keeping an eye on the weather, and particularly the weather in the gulf. You know, we're coming up on hurricane season, supposed to be an active one. How could that affect things down in the gulf with this whole oil disaster?
Our meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is going to give us an update here in a moment, update on a tropical depression now she's keeping an eye on. You'll find out exactly where it is.
It's 14 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hey there. Welcome back to the CNN SATURDAY MORNING, about 17 minutes past the hour.
Louisiana, the oil cleanup crews, they are dealing with, of course, all that mess out there in the gulf. But they had to deal with a few thunderstorms and then the hurricane season that's coming as well.
Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider keeping an eye on all things weather related, and we kind of alluded to this last weekend about the busy season that's supposed to be coming. It might be coming a little early. We have our first something, a depression.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right, a tropical depression in the Eastern Pacific ...
HOLMES: OK.
SCHNEIDER: ... but absolutely, T.J., all indications prove that we are going to see a very active hurricane season in the Atlantic. NOAA just came out this week with their new updated forecast and it does look extremely active. But let's take you to the Pacific where just in this morning we have a brand-new tropical depression. It's called 1E, 295 miles to the west of San Salvador and El Salvador, bringing very heavy rain southern -- extreme Southern Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras and Nicaragua. We're watching for this system to work its way slowly to the north, and even though it's still a depression with winds at 35 miles per hour, the potential for tropical storm force winds at least 39 miles per hour continue to affect the coastal sections of Central America.
Now, mentioning the tropics, we want to go right to the gulf because even though hurricane season hasn't begun yet, we're still monitoring it. And we're monitoring something called the loop current. Now, the loop current, you may have heard about it way back, years ago when we were talking about Hurricane Katrina in 2005. When storms come over the loop current, because of its deep, warm water, they tend to ignite in intensity.
Now, there's been a huge concern, will the oil spill into the loop current and affect the Florida Keys, affect Cuba? Right now, what we're looking at is an eddy, almost a whirlpool, breaking off from the main loop current, and that's occurred, really, in the past 10 days. That will, for the time being, keep the oil where it is and not move the mainstream into the mainstream loop current.
Now this situation could change, but at present, it's a good thing for the oil spill and to keep it more contained in the area that it is rather than flow into the loop current.
Weather across the gulf brings a chance of thunderstorms, 86 degrees. T.J., we have seen scattered showers and thunderstorms, just to show you, in the Gulf of Mexico. Some have frequent lightning, but overall it's really isolated. So we'll be looking at warm temperatures and, just to mention, it is Memorial Day weekend. The beaches on the Gulf Coast, as we've been talking about all morning, most of them are open and the weather's nice.
HOLMES: The weather's nice, beaches are open, people are canceling. They hear oil, they see the pictures. They assume every beach is covered. Three beaches, folks.
SCHNEIDER: Yes.
HOLMES: And the president was making that point yesterday. He's done it several times. Only three beaches in that entire Gulf Coast are closed, and those three are in New Orleans. Everything else is open for business.
SCHNEIDER: And we'll talk more about that later and how the weather looks for the entire holiday weekend.
HOLMES: OK, good. Bonnie, thank you so much for making that point.
We're going to continue along that point, Josh Levs looking at the same thing, a lot of people canceling vacations, and they don't need to be right now, Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, what thing we're ...
Let's try that again. What we're going to be doing this hour is we're actually going to dig into some of the deals that are available right now because it's particularly enticing to go to some of these beaches. I'm going to talk you through some of the best deals, live images, what the opportunities are for you this weekend if you want to travel.
Plus, just in time for today, the list is out of the best beaches in America. All of that's coming up this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, it's 24 minutes past the hour here on the CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
We know a lot of people want to help out in the Gulf Coast region right now. A lot of people waiting for BP to do something, the federal government -- well, a lot of people aren't waiting. They're actually getting involved and they're getting dirty.
We want to tell you about one group called the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an organization that's monitoring the spill by taking pictures and making that information available online. They have a -- a crisis map where they're putting all of their information up for the public to see.
And Lauren Craig, part of that team, joins me now live from New Orleans. Lauren, good morning to you. Thank you for being here.
Tell me, just the volunteers, how many do you have, first of all, and do you all have any kind of formal training of any kind?
LAUREN CRAIG, VOLUNTEER, LOUISIANA BUCKET BRIGADE: We do not. We are kind of a conglomerate group. We have about 20 volunteers. The non-profit Louisiana Bucket Brigade has a staff of five. So it's a very small scale operation, but definitely looking to build on that.
HOLMES: Now how did you come to get involved or get recruited? What's your level of involvement?
CRAIG: Well, I'm actually working on a master's program at Tulane and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade is involved with Tulane and that's how I -- that's how I got involved with it. And there are quite a few public health students involved as well.
HOLMES: And now, you say you got about 20. How many would you like?
CRAIG: That's a good question. Really, we're trying to recruit people from the affected areas to actually help us report to the map.
So, one of our biggest projects is just outreach to those communities and trying to educate people about the map and letting them know how -- that they can make their voices heard.
HOLMES: OK, there we go. You say you have 20. You'd like more. But what are the 20? What is the role and responsibility of these 20?
CRAIG: Well, right now, like I said, we're doing a lot of outreach. We went down to Grand Isle last week. This weekend we are in Dolphin Island. We're also working on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
And, we are also working on an aerial mapping project developed by some people at MIT, which is -- it's very low tech. It's literally, we're attaching a camera to a kite and sending it up above the beaches to try to get before and after imagery of these areas and make that publicly available as well.
HOLMES: Wow, MIT and low tech don't usually go together, but we should get what you're saying there ...
CRAIG: I know, right?
HOLMES: A lot of these volunteers, you're talking about some went to that outreach, essentially recruiting others, but -- but the actual boots on the ground, if you will, of being out there, what is a volunteer? If somebody does volunteer for your group, what would they be tasked to do when they go out there?
CRAIG: Well, a lot of it really is just going down there and talking to people, finding out what the story is and making that information publicly available. I mean, I think a lot of what we're seeing right now is that a lot of people's stories aren't being told. And so one of the most important things that we're doing is just making sure that that information is available to the public.
HOLMES: Now, I assume you all would -- would hope -- and I don't know if you have partnerships just yet with either BP or the federal government, but you're hoping that some of this information you are collecting can be out -- and I saw you shake your head there. It sounds like no, that BP -- maybe informally.
Maybe they're looking at your website and you don't even know it yet. But ...
CRAIG: Maybe. That's true. That's true.
HOLMES: Maybe so. But is that the point, you're hoping your information certainly can be used for the public consumption but also it could do some good for the people like BP and the administration who are trying to get this work done.
CRAIG: Right. Right. We hope that, you know, just having this information documented in the long run is going to -- going to help some people.
HOLMES: All right. So -- and again, I have to ask you one more time. I'm going to let you go here, but you have 20. Now, you have the -- the national airwaves right now and a lot of people are watching you in that Gulf Coast region. You might get flooded with requests, but ...
CRAIG: Right.
HOLMES: But you would like as many people as you could get to help out here. Is that right?
CRAIG: Right. Absolutely. And anyone who sees anything, hears anything, especially if you're living in an affected area of the Gulf Coast, definitely check out our website. It's oilspill -- www.oilspill.labucketbrigade.org. You can submit reports online and you can also send text message to 504-2727-OIL.
HOLMES: All right. And there is the website. We do have it up. Again, we have the name of it, we have the website, the picture of it and also the actual address.
But -- but again, you know, a lot of people, Lauren, certainly want to -- to help out and you guys are down there helping out and literally getting dirty in some regards. But good luck to you and your efforts in recruiting some more volunteers. And thank you for being here this morning.
CRAIG: Thank you. Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: All right.
Well, of course, the battle -- we're turning to New Jersey here now. This is a battle of a different sort. You may have heard about this. This is one going on between the governor of New Jersey and the teachers' union.
This thing, some would tell you, is getting a little nasty here. The union is rallying to prevent his plan from going through, a plan to cut a lot of stuff in the budget, having to make some tough decisions. There's a budget shortfall the state is trying to make up, and one of the proposals would have a direct impact on teachers.
We're talking live with people who are certainly invested in this issue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back, everybody, to the "CNN Saturday Morning." Bottom of the hour and now talking about New Jersey. There's a battle brewing between the governor, Chris Christie, and the Teachers' Union. This is all comes about because the governor -- just like a lot of governors -- having to make some tough decisions about what to cut out of the budget.
There's disagreement about what should be cut and part of this, he wants a pay freeze -- to freeze teachers' salary for a year. He also wants teachers to contribute 1.5 percent of their salary to help pay for their health benefits. As you can imagine, Teachers' union a lot of teachers upset about this.
Take a look at this. This is one of the rallies that have taken place in New Jersey against some of the governor's proposals. This is an iReport we got from a middle school science teacher who attended a rally that happened this week.
Now we're going do get into this this morning with the education contributor Steve Perry who's joining us right now, and also the head of the teachers' union there in New Jersey is going to join us in just a moment. But I'm going to talk to Steve here first. Steve, good morning to you. Good to see you back here on "CNN --
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
HOLMES: -- Saturday Morning", and there are always issues, you know, back and forth. People -- nobody wants to cut anything but sometimes things have to be cut and need to be cut and so on and so forth. But you can understand the teachers' union coming out and defending the members. What is wrong with that?
PERRY: I cannot understand their defending their members because that is the point. They're always focused on their members opposed to the children. What we're looking at here is New Jersey already spends more money per pupil than any other state in the nation.
New Jersey's teachers are among the highest paid in the nation at approximately an average of $65,000 plus an additional $20,000 worth of benefits, and the governor's simply saying, we have no more money. In a state that's had over 55,000 home foreclosures, at some point the teacher's union has to look beyond their own selfish desires and into the fact that the community doesn't have anymore money to pay for the salaries.
HOLMES: But Steve, you talked about the salaries. New Jersey last I checked, not exactly a cheap state to live in and a lot of people, why should teachers and we all agree, I believe, teachers are literally raising our kids in a lot of ways. They spend more time with the kids during the day than parents often do. So why shouldn't the teachers deserve to hold on to what they were promised?
PERRY: Because there is no more money to pay them. From where do we get that? Do we start firing police officers to make sure that teachers can be paid to get their guarantee.
HOLMES: Nobody's suggesting that.
PERRY: Well this is the point. The money comes from one place. There's no imaginary budget somewhere on earth from which you can draw. We all draw from the same tax base. So those same property taxes that are now gone away because so many people have lost their homes and lost their jobs because the economy's tanking, those same people have to then come up with the money.
They don't have it. Listen, man. If there's more money, I don't think anybody would have a problem giving more money to talented, qualified, caring, committed teachers. But we are at a point where there simply is o more tax dollars -- there are no more tax dollars from which to draw. At some point, the teacher's union has to realize that it's not about them. It is about the children and they have to stop making it seem like -- their argument is but we try so hard. Who doesn't?
Our job is so hard. Whose isn't? You chose this for a living. You understood the circumstances. Guarantees are not what this is about. It is about children.
HOLMES: But Steve, that's kind of a heavy, and I know you're a teacher, you're an educator yourself but still, kind of a heavy accusation and kind of tough to hear to suggest possibly that they're thinking about themselves.
PERRY: They absolutely are. They absolutely are.
HOLMES: These are teachers. They didn't get into it to make a lot of money in the first place.
PERRY: So because they're teachers they can't be about themselves? Who else could they be thinking about when they're asking people to give more money they don't already have?
HOLMES: They're asking for what they were already promised.
PERRY: Listen, more money -- okay.
HOLMES: They have been asked to take a cut. Go ahead.
PERRY: More money is not going to give our more sports teams. It's not going to give the children more arts programs. It's not going to give them more services. All that more money will do is pay for their raise. We are not going to get more teachers as a result of this. We're just going to be able to maintain the ones that they have already priced out of the market.
HOLMES: And again, like --
PERRY: Regardless of whether or not New Jersey is among one of the wealthier states in the nation, the fact remains that even New Jersey among the wealthiest states in the nation simply doesn't have anymore money. At some point, these folks have to come on board just like the rest of the economy and say, everybody's got to give a little something. Why can't they give theirs?
HOLMES: And, you know, Steve, we know as the educator contributor, we certainly respect your opinion. You have strong views on it and you've been in it for quite sometime as an educator. So we always appreciate talking to you and a lot of people agree with you. A lot of people might disagree with you.
We're going to hear another side. But Steve, good to see you as always. Good talking to you. A good conversation as always. But we are going to hear after a quick break, we are going to hear from the head of the New Jersey Teachers' Union who, of course, has heard all kinds of accusations about how they have been handling themselves. But she, of course, is trying to take care of her members of the union, those teachers there who are educating kids in New Jersey. We're talking to her right after the commercial break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, welcome back. Just before the break you may have heard, talking to the education contributor who had some -- certainly some strong opinions about what's happening in New Jersey right now. The conversation we're having, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie really in a battle with the teachers' union.
He wants to help ease the budget crunch they're seeing in that state, like many other states but he wants to have a pay freeze on teachers' salaries and also ask the teachers to contribute 1.5 percent of their salary to the health benefits.
Our Steve Perry as you just heard had some issues with the teacher's union saying that they're actually being selfish, thinking about themselves and their own salaries versus making a sacrifice for the greater good of the state and of the students, as well.
I believe our next guest will certainly take issue with some of what he she just heard. Barbara Keshishian who is The New Jersey Teachers' Union president. Ma'am, thank you so much for being here.
I know you have been going round and round certainly in New Jersey there about what's happening. A tough issue in all states, but I will let you address initially some of the accusations I'm sure you hear, and you just heard from our Steve Perry about the teachers and the teacher's union thinking selfishly here; that everybody's hurting. Everybody needs to give a little something. So I'll let you address that first, and then we'll get into some other issues.
BARBARA KESHISHIAN, PRESIDENT, NEW JERSEY TEACHER'S UNION: Well, the statement regarding the governor's cuts, obviously, the governor's trying to balance his state budget on the backs of school employees and on other public employees.
The issues that were specifically just addressed in regard to salaries and health benefits, they are collective bargaining issues. New Jersey's a very strong collective bargaining state. Our local districts negotiate their own contracts and in terms of salaries and benefits, what the local district determines as a reasonable settlement in a contract we believe contracts should be honored.
HOLMES: It sounds like, ma'am, I guess the governor's asking everybody to pitch in. He has several hundred million dollars in a deficit there. I guess what should be the level of sacrifice? I know you have the collective bargaining and that things are set in stone. But I guess what level of sacrifice are teachers willing to give there in New Jersey and should they contribute in New Jersey given that everybody is hurting?
KESHISHIAN: Well, the 1.5 percent of health benefits, many of the local districts already have contributions to their health benefits in their contracts. So to say that our members do not contribute anything to their health benefits depends on the individual district because many of our local contracts already have contributions to health benefits.
HOLMES: But not all are contributing, right?
KESHISHIAN: Not all because each of our local districts negotiates its own contract. You know, but to say that if our members took wage freezes that it would make the budget deficit go away is absolutely untrue. As a matter of fact, the Office of Legislative Services in Trenton which is an independent agency determined that even if every single school employee took a wage freeze this year, the governor's proposed cuts would still require $840 million to be eliminated from school funding.
HOLMES: Well, he is certainly not asking -- he has -- cuts across the board. A lot of things are being touched. Not just teachers so he is not trying to leverage it all on the backs of teachers, but again, to give up the pay freeze, if teachers just say there is in New Jersey say just for this year, we know you're hurting, a lot of families are hurting. We will not take a pay increase for this one year to try to help out. Why is just that not acceptable right now?
KESHISHIAN: Many of our local district haves done that. They have reopened their contracts or if they are currently in bargaining with their local district, many of the districts have accepted pay freezes.
HOLMES: Ma'am, you are not willing to do that in the governor's proposal on a statewide level. Why not?
KESHISHIAN: We don't negotiate the contracts for our local districts. So the NJEA doesn't sit at the bargaining table with each of those individual local districts. Each local district in New Jersey bargains its own contract.
HOLMES: Ma'am, one other issue. I know you all have gotten some -- well, some feedback and gotten some criticism for the tone, I guess, this whole thing has taken, including, in fact, this is a quote from you that's on your website.
"Our war with the Christie Administration is now full blown." Another quote in an op-ed you wrote said "our governor, and there's no delicate way to put it, is a liar." These are coming -- I think everybody in this country loves teachers but there's some criticism that the tone you've taken in the battle has had people now looking at teachers in a different light and so much goodwill has been lost because of language like that. Why is language like that necessary?
KESHISHIAN: Well, because since the governor took office in January he has done nothing but trying to paint NJEA and its members as scapegoats for his problem in terms of trying to solve the budget deficit here. And, you know, we did not support this governor. Everyone knows that. And obviously, since he took office in the middle of January, we've been paying for it. He is a bully, and he is -- .
HOLMES: But no -- no qualms about calling the -- I'm sorry. But no qualms about calling the governor of the state just a liar? No matter how upset you might be with him, is it possible to tone it down just that kind of language and saying we're at full-blown war?
KESHISHIAN: The only reason why that rhetoric even had to begin was because of the constant, constant attacks on NJEA and its members and on public education. We certainly didn't start this battle.
HOLMES: Well, again, Barbara Keshishian, again the head of the New Jersey Education Association there. Ma'am, I know it's a passionate debate on both sides and certainly everybody wants teachers to be taken care of.
KESHISHIAN: Yes, it is.
HOLMES: And I think you said June 30th is when they have to have that balanced budget ready. So maybe another month we'll be seeing this battle continue, ma'am. We will continue the follow it and hope to possibly have you back down the road.
KESHISHIAN: Thank you very much. I look forward to it.
HOLMES: Thank you so much, ma'am. Coming up on quarter to the top of the hour now. Quick break here on this Saturday morning. We're right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, every week we love to honor our CNN Heroes, an everyday person who is changing the world, and today the spotlight is on a top 10 hero from last year. His name is Roy Foster. You may remember him. He is increasing help for homeless and addicted veterans. His new motto, no man or woman left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREN KINNEAR: Please stand up and honor CNN Hero Roy Foster.
ROY FOSTER: I was overwhelmed at the tribute. There will be no man left behind as long as we are this nation. To be honored in something that you love doing, showcased internationally, was tremendous. And it's still reaping benefits as we speak today.
We did come up with Stand Down House 10 years ago to provide assistance and services for homeless veterans. But every day, they would bounce to another place, go to the hospital, go to the VA trying to meet their criteria. There's a natural run around.
And there was never that support for the family or the female veterans. This year, we've been fortunate enough to complete that vision. We were looking to establish a one-stop center, a place where we can move them through the process under one roof. That's what it's about. Hello. How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my living room.
FOSTER: The second part is the housing component for female veterans and families.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My pride is restored. I'm able to look for jobs. Now worry about where am I going to go when I come home?
FOSTER: CNN put us where I could share the full dream with people and plays a pivotal role in actually being able to bring that dream forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And the Department of Veterans Affairs says Roy Foster's housing facility for female veterans with children is only the second one in the country. Well if you'd like to get involved with his program or to nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to cnnheroes.com.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to the "CNN Saturday Morning". We know it's Memorial Day and that usually means a lot of people heading to the beach. Often times they head to the beach along the Gulf Coast. But apparently according to some reports that's not exactly the case right now. And you can imagine why, because of this whole oil spill.
Well, a lot of people trying to keep that tradition alive, keep people down on the beaches, get them back down there and doing a lot of outreach online. Josh Levs here to show us that. You know, usually, you don't have to sell the Gulf Coast. You don't have to sell Gulf Coast beaches to people. They just know they're gorgeous.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So beautiful.
HOLMES: They are gorgeous down there, and they still are. People need to know that.
LEVS: Yes, they are and the thing is they're actually getting help from the president in this effort to get people to turn out for this. That's one thing that's so interesting here is the head of the government -- in addition to all the people on the coast -- are doing everything they can to push people to show up. Let's take a look at what President Obama said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: One of the most powerful ways that you can help the Gulf right now is to visit the communities and the beaches off of the coast. Except for three beaches here in Louisiana, all of the Gulf's beaches at this moment are open, they are safe and they are clean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And what locals are doing, a lot of them are turning to YouTube to stand out at the beaches and say look how great it is. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: We have been hearing on the news that the oil spill will be reaching here but the fact is it's not. Our coast is clear. And we're just showing you a little bit of the water and don't be afraid to come to Florida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a beautiful day at the beach. Again, again, just powdered sugar sand. There isn't any residue. There isn't any oil. There isn't any oil in the water. Everything's fine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take a look around. Yet to see any oil, any residue, any tar balls, any sheen or any smell.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: There's tons of them on YouTube from all over the Gulf Coast and you are seeing so many people doing that and what we talked to you here at cnn.com, one of our top stories today is how there's all these deals you can get right now that people are taking advantage of.
They're offering money back if you spot any oil. They're way slicing the prices on hotels and there's some other things that you should know. Some of the links that we provide you show you some of the beaches that you can check out and live web cams.
I posted all this for you at my Facebook page and at our blog. Let's show everyone that, because I want you to see the links that will get you straight to these deals. You got Cnn.com/josh. Facebook is joshlevsCNN. Twitter is also joshlevsCNN.
Now, you know, any year there's another thing we want to know. This year, we're talking about oil but you also probably want to know what's the weather like at these beaches? So I'm going to bring in Bonnie. Bonnie, talk to me. Gulf Coast, Beaches this weekend. How's it looking between now and Memorial Day Monday?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I think it looks really good. You know you saw the pictures. They were just beautiful, beautiful water. And the white sand is so pretty. I want to show you when's happening right now in the Gulf because the temperatures are really just perfect.
There are some scattered thunderstorms but they're mainly in the Gulf so if you're sitting out on the beach, you may see some dark clouds but really the sky conditions right now in the panhandle of Florida look party cloudy. We have a temperature of 82 degrees across much of the region.
And you're wondering how's the water temperature for this Memorial Day? Well, it looks great. Already the water temperature is in the 80s along the Gulf Coast. On the east coast of Florida, in the 70s and certainly gets colder as you head further to the north. If you're planning to do a beach getaway across the mid-Atlantic or new England beaches. It's a very cold water temperature there. It's in the 50s. But generally speaking, we're looking at a nice Memorial Day. There are scattered showers so for those of you that are heading to the beach, I would say get there in the morning because most of the thunderstorms happen in the afternoon as you know. This time of year in the southeast. Back to you.
LEVS: You know what? Those of you who are able to go, I'm like, we're stuck here in the studio. You all go enjoy it for us. Send us lots of pictures and T.J. will bring some of those tomorrow, people enjoying themselves at the beach. Thanks, Bonnie.
HOLMES: You all are stuck. Speak for yourselves. I'm out of here.
LEVS: You are out of here, aren't you?
HOLMES: All right, sorry. Thanks, guys. Appreciate you both, Josh and Bonnie. Well it's our goal every weekend here on "CNN Saturday Morning" to tell you about somebody we just thought you should know about. Not necessarily in the headlines, some star or some politician.
Just somebody we thought you'd look to know about. And why not? Tell you about Clyde Jenkins this weekend. Who's Clyde? Well, he is a veteran. He's from Wisconsin. Now, he's not a veteran of one war, not of two wars. Of three wars. World war II, the Korean war, also war in Vietnam.
This goes in his family. Service to this country. His family, 100 years of service combined. His dad served, his grandfather, as well. His father actually served in the Spanish-American War. Clyde can still as you see there fit into his uniform from 1940. And you saw him there wearing it recently.
He wore it in D.C. before the old glory honor flight. Now, how in the world does this man at this age now, the uniform he had in 1940, how does he fit into it? This is his response. Well this is his response. He says, quote, a half a can of grease, two pry bars. That usually does the trick. He's just joking, of course.
But how does he do it? Clyde actually walks four miles a day. So on this weekend, when we are remembering America's men and women in uniform, why not tell you about Clyde Jenkins, just somebody we thought you should know about.
So we'll get back to the other story everybody's keeping an eye on this weekend happening in the Gulf Coast. A story that could, could be coming to some kind of a happy ending and we could know more this weekend. We're talking about the oil, the outrage and the president. That's coming your way in just a minute. Stay with us.
