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More Men Accuse Jerry Sandusky of Abuse; New Details in Death of Natalie Wood; Coast to Coast Protests; Keeping the Peace; More Men Accuse Jerry Sandusky; Lax Laws to Protect Children; Changing The Color of Ballet

Aired November 18, 2011 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

Want to get you up to speed.

Another college rocked by allegations of child molestation. Syracuse University has placed associate men's basketball coach Bernie Fine on administrative leave. The move comes after an ESPN report that two men accused Fine of inappropriate contact when they were boys.

Here's what one of them told the network.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY DAVIS, ALLEGED SEXUAL MOLESTATION VICTIM: He started trying to touch me and things like that. And, honestly, I don't even thought that that what was supposed to happen. I know I cringed up and didn't want it to happen. And I was very -- it was like, what's going on? I just remember being disgusted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Syracuse says it investigated when an allegation was made back in 2005. So in a statement, the school says that the investigation included interviews with people the accuser said would support his claims, but the administration says -- quote -- "All of those identified denied any knowledge of wrongful conduct by the associate coach. The associate coach also vehemently denied the allegations."

Well, the number of people who say they were molested by Jerry Sandusky is now growing. More men claim they were sexually abused by the former Penn State assistant coach. Sandusky is already charged with molesting eight boys. Now a lawyer for the men explains why they are coming forward right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ANDERSON, ATTORNEY FOR ALLEGED VICTIMS: When I heard him say that he had not abused or raped or violated children I knew that he had not only violated me but he had put a dagger in my heart and salted the wounds, and deeper wounded my soul than I had ever even realized.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The attorney says the claims are legitimate. But police have not weighed in.

Well, the women's basketball coach at Oklahoma State University and his assistant have been killed in a plane crash. Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna, seen here, were on a recruiting trip when their plane went down about 45 miles from Little Rock, Arkansas, last night.

After two months of standing their ground, a show of strength by the Occupy movement last night in New York. The question today, what's next for the protesters? Police arrested more than 200 people across the city yesterday as demonstrators made their presence known on Wall Street and in Zuccotti Park. A huge crowd then marched across the Brooklyn Bridge, and this message from protesters beamed onto the side of a nearby Verizon building.

More rallies took place across the country, with dozens arrested in similar marches from Boston to L.A.

Well, angry protesters are back on the streets of Cairo, Egypt. Tens of thousands of people turned out in Tahrir Square to protest a plan that would shield the Egyptian military from public oversight. Now, that plan is part of the country's proposed new constitution. Protesters, they are also pushing for presidential elections to be held no later than April of next year.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton getting ready for a historic trip to Myanmar. She leaves next month. Her first visit -- it would be the first visit to that country by a secretary of state in more than half-a-century. Now, the White House says that Clinton's trip, it is an indication that Myanmar has made some progress towards democracy, and the time could be right to forge a relationship between the two countries.

It was a mystery that rocked Hollywood, captured the attention of the world. In 1981, actress Natalie Wood was found floating off of California's Catalina coast after a boating trip with her husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken. Wood was perhaps best known as Maria from "West Side Story."

Investigators ruled her death an accidental drowning almost three decades ago, but now they're reopening the case.

Here's a look back at original reporting on that story back in 1981.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT WEINER, FORMER CNN CORRESPONDENT: Accidental drowning was the official cause of death, but today's news conference, called by chief Los Angeles County Coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi, left several key questions unanswered. First the facts as Noguchi presented them. DR. THOMAS NOGUCHI, FORMER L.A. COUNTY CORONER: Ms. Wood, it appears based on our investigation, that on this day, noon, shortly after midnight, Sunday morning, she apparently attempted to get on to the dinghy, slipped and fell in the water, unable to return to the dinghy or the boat. And later the body was found about a mile away and the boat dinghy was also found close to the shore.

WEINER: Noguchi said there was no evidence of foul play. He did indicate, however, that tests revealed Ms. Wood was technically drunk, but continually referred to Woods' condition as slightly inebriated. He nevertheless admitted that alcohol might have been one reason why the actress was rendered unconscious.

Noguchi also said that a heated but nonviolent argument had ensued between Woods' husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken, a guest on the yacht. But Noguchi could not confirm what the argument was about or whether it was the reason Ms. Wood decided to leave the ship alone.

Robert Weiner, Cable News Network, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now the captain of the ship where this all went down is talking.

Dennis Davern, captain of the Splendour, joins us now. We are also joined Marti Rulli, author of the book "Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour."

So, Mr. Davern, start with you here.

You have said repeatedly that Robert Wagner is responsible for Natalie Wood's death that night. You were on the boat, you were there. What happened?

DENNIS DAVERN, CAPTAIN OF THE SPLENDOUR: Well, what happened was he -- when we got back from the restaurant -- well, the whole weekend started with a lot of pressure with Robert Wagner as far as being jealous of Christopher Walken.

The tension grew through the whole weekend. And the first night that we were there, Robert Wagner decided that he wanted to move the boat, which it was cold. It was raining. It was just terrible, terrible weather.

Natalie said that she really didn't want to do that. It's kind of unsafe to do that right now, because it was very, very dark. So Natalie was upset about it and she wanted to go ashore. So Natalie and I went ashore and we stayed at a hotel.

In the morning, we returned to the boat, hoping that things would be smoothed over and maybe a little settled down. So, Natalie prepared breakfast for us. And we went ahead then and moved the boat down to the other end of the island. So, that afternoon Christopher and Natalie decide they were going to go into the restaurant, which was the only place there was at that part of the island. And so they went ashore. And they were having afternoon cocktails, laughing, talking about their movie that they were doing.

And later on that day, Robert Wagner and myself, we joined them at the restaurant for dinner. And when the dinner was over and it was time to return to the boat, Natalie wanted to stay a little longer, but Robert Wagner said that we were going to return to the boat, and that was it.

So we returned to the boat. We got into the salon, and the tension was still building very, very strong. And Christopher and Natalie were sitting on the sofa. And within -- within a split- second, Robert Wagner picked up a wine bottle and smashed it on the coffee table and yelled out, "What are you trying to do, 'blank' my wife?"

And at that moment, Christopher got up and went into his stateroom. And Natalie was so devastated that she went into her stateroom. And Robert Wagner followed Natalie. And they continued arguing in their stateroom.

And I went up on the bridge and then turned on the music because I didn't want them to feel like I was eavesdropping on their personal problems at that time. And there was like a lot of physical activity going on in the stateroom.

MALVEAUX: What do you mean?

DAVERN: Well, just noises of movement in the stateroom.

MALVEAUX: Like violence, yelling?

(CROSSTALK)

DAVERN: -- voices. Yes.

And then the argument went to the aft deck, and they argued back there for a little while. And then it became silent. So when it became silent, I thought, well, maybe things are smoothed over and maybe they have gone to bed. So I waited for a little while. And I thought, well, I will go down and just check.

So I went to the aft deck. And Robert Wagner said, Natalie's missing, would I search the boat?

So I immediately went to my stateroom thinking she went there because the night before she felt safe with me being with her in an unpleasant time. And I came back and I looked in Christopher Walken's stateroom. He was in there by himself. And I came back and said to Robert Wagner, I said, "Oh, she's not here."

And he said, "Well, the dinghy's gone." And I knew that she wouldn't really take the dinghy because she was really deathly afraid of water. And if anything, she would have asked me to take her ashore or do whatever she wanted to do. She would have definitely asked me, like she did the night before.

MALVEAUX: So what did you suspect at that moment had happened?

DAVERN: I -- I was kind -- I was trying to believe that maybe she really did -- and just in a rage, maybe she just really got in the dinghy and went ashore.

Then I said to Robert Wagner, I said, "Well, let's turn on the searchlight to see if we can see her."

And he says, "No, we don't want to do that right now."

I said, "Well, maybe let's call -- call into the restaurant."

And he said, "No." He said, "We don't want to do anything right at the moment."

So we waited. And, finally, after a couple hours, Robert Wagner called into the restaurant and said no one was there and the restaurant had been closed. So they came out the Splendour. And at that time, they said we need to contact the Coast Guard and start conducting a search.

MALVEAUX: What had you done in those two hours before anybody had contacted the restaurant or police? What was going on, on the boat?

DAVERN: Well, it was just Robert Wagner and myself.

And it was just a very, very unusual situation to be in. I remember Robert Wagner pouring me a drink of scotch, and I really wasn't a scotch drinker. But it seemed like I had more than one -- more than one drink where it was -- I was getting a numbing feeling and not being able to really think clearly.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: What was his demeanor? What was he like during that time? Did he seem sincerely worried, upset that she was missing?

DAVERN: Yes, he did. He had a very unusual look on his face of -- very hard to describe, but the whole situation was very strange. And --

(CROSSTALK)

DAVERN: I'm sorry. Go ahead.

MALVEAUX: No, no, no.

You say that you and Robert Wagner came up with a story together, you concocted some sort of story and lied to police investigators when they asked what had happened. What did he allegedly ask you to say?

DAVERN: Well, we necessarily really didn't lie. We just didn't tell everything. And it was agreed that what we spoke about between the three of us is that -- what we were going to tell the investigators.

MALVEAUX: So you had a conversation about what were you going to tell investigators; is that right?

DAVERN: Yes.

MALVEAUX: And what was that conversation? What did you agree to say?

DAVERN: Just that the argument carried on into the stateroom, to the aft deck, and that Natalie was going to untie the dinghy to secure it to the boat, because it was bothering her sleep and that she must have slipped and fell and bumped her head and went into the water.

MATTHEWS: So all three of you agreed to this story, that this is what you would tell investigators, is that right, that Robert Wagner said, this is what we need to say? Is that right?

(CROSSTALK)

DAVERN: Yes.

MALVEAUX: So, at the time, when she was missing, did you suspect that he had pushed her overboard? Did you see any kind of evidence that suggested that he might have physically pushed her overboard, or was there evidence to think that she had left on her own?

DAVERN: There wasn't any kind of evidence at all. I just wanted to go with the theory that maybe she did leave the boat, because I just couldn't face any other way to think at that time. I was just -- I felt like I was, like, in shock.

MALVEAUX: There were reports that people heard a woman screaming. Did you ever hear her scream? Did you ever hear her scream for help?

DAVERN: No, I never heard her scream. But, again, I was on the bridge of the boat at the -- and I had the music on, so I wouldn't have been able to hear anything with the music on, because I had it on fairly loud so I wouldn't hear their arguing.

MALVEAUX: There were reports as well that there were bruises on her body. Did you see her beaten up in any way or bruised when you last saw her on that boat?

DAVERN: No, I didn't see -- when she was on the boat, she didn't have any bruises.

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in here the Wagner family statement, because obviously they are responding to this. This what the family spokesperson is saying. "They fully support the efforts of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and trust they will evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources, other than those simply trying to profit from the 30-year anniversary of her tragic death."

And, Mr. Davern, I'm sure you are aware that that anniversary is just 11 days away. So they are essentially suggesting that this is a way for you and your co-author to sell more books.

DAVERN: No, that's not really the way it is. My book came out two years ago. And I'm not one that started this investigation. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department is.

And I have been trying to tell people my story for many, many years, and no one wanted to listen.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: So what has changed here? Help us understand this. This is a book you wrote two years ago. You had these details. They came out. And you're saying that you took it to authorities and no one listened to you for two years?

DAVERN: Well, for more than two years, way more than two years.

MALVEAUX: Who did you go to?

DAVERN: Over 10 years -- when Marti and I were working on this project, she had notified people such as the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. I'm not sure. Maybe you could -- you could ask Marti that.

MALVEAUX: And, Marti, are you guys saying that the L.A. authorities here just didn't follow up, that they just decided to ignore these details, or is this the normal course of their investigation now?

MARTI RULLI, AUTHOR, "GOODBYE NATALIE, GOODBYE SPLENDOUR": Well, this is this is different than -- the case is closed for 30 years.

And when new information would be presented in articles or books -- Robert Wagner wrote a book, told a different story than what he had told the authorities in his book. But the L.A. County detectives, they have plenty of work to do without reading books to see what might have changed in a case.

And this was a closed case, so it -- I was hoping it would be upgraded to a cold case. So I did talk with the lead detective, Rasure, Duane Rasure, many years ago. I contacted the L.A. County Sheriff's Department many years ago. And I contacted Frank Salerno, who headed up the entire Natalie Wood case.

And they listened to me, but they had promised they would help if I could convince them of new evidence, and then they didn't accept the evidence. So the book came out. I figured that was the only way that Natalie would receive any type of a voice or justice. And then I wanted more because the L.A. County Sheriff's Department still hadn't -- I sent a book, but I still hadn't heard from them.

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: Right. So were you contacted recently?

(CROSSTALK)

MALVEAUX: Yes, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

RULLI: Well, no. In the past -- I took the past few months -- probably this entire year -- and I contacted all of the witnesses I had interviewed and other people.

And I gathered testimonial statements to send to the L.A. County Sheriff. And a month later, they contacted us and they agree there's ample evidence to reopen the Natalie Wood case.

MALVEAUX: Did you bring any new information?

RULLI: It was just matter of them learning the details.

MALVEAUX: OK. Are there any new details that you can shed light on that evening, any new details that weren't included in this book --

(CROSSTALK)

RULLI: Well, there are plenty of details. There are so many aspects involved, and far too many to explain in an interview. And they're all listed in the book. And I'm hoping that now they read the book and they see the many things that should be looked into --

MALVEAUX: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

RULLI: -- mainly the four-hour wait to call for Coast Guard help.

MALVEAUX: OK.

Marti, with all due respect, we're not interested in selling more books here.

I want to bring in our criminal analyst here, Mike Brooks, to ask a few questions here, because it is a little confusing about whether or not there's any new information that's come out over the last couple of years that would allow the L.A. authorities to reopen this case.

What does it say to you?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Right.

Well, Mr. Davern, in that timeline, from the time that you saw them go from the stateroom to the aft deck, what did you hear before that exactly? You said you heard something. Was there any hollering? Did it sound like anyone was being hit before you retreated to the bridge and turned the music up?

DAVERN: Well, I immediately went to the bridge when they went to their stateroom. And I did hear a lot of yelling, a lot of physical movement, and then it went to the aft deck.

BROOKS: Now, did you see them go to the aft deck?

DAVERN: Yes. I glanced over the window -- the plastic glass enclosure that goes along the whole backside of the boat.

(CROSSTALK)

BROOKS: Did Mr. Wagner have her physically or did she follow him? How did all that look to you? How did it happen?

DAVERN: It looked like to me that they were arguing in the stateroom. And they just -- the back door was right at the aft deck. It is just a matter of a couple steps away, where maybe walking around arguing, they walked to the aft deck.

It wasn't like it was someplace where -- it wasn't like it was like a faraway place. It was only a matter of couple steps away.

BROOKS: Now the dinghy. When you were up on the bridge with the music up, did you notice -- because the water -- I don't know what the conditions were that night off of Catalina, right there at Catalina Island there. Did you notice a dinghy? Did you notice any ripples in the water that would have indicated maybe someone had put the dinghy in the water?

DAVERN: Well, the dinghy was already in the water. That's how we -- when we returned from the restaurant, that's how we returned, is in that dinghy.

And when we got on the boat, I tied the dinghy with two lines, a bow line and a stern line, against the swim platform.

BROOKS: How long after they went to the aft deck did Mr. Wagner then come to you by himself? I'm just trying to put together the timeline here because it is very important with the investigation.

DAVERN: Well, I went to him because, when I heard the silence -- or when it got silent, I thought that maybe they had stopped arguing. So I waited for about 10 minutes. And then I went to the aft deck.

And that's when Robert Wagner told me to search the boat, that Natalie was missing.

BROOKS: Well, you said it was silent for a while. I thought you said that you had the music up and you couldn't hear what was going on.

DAVERN: No. The arguing -- well, could you hear the arguing. I just didn't -- I had the music turned up to where I wouldn't actually hear what they were saying. I didn't want them to think that I was eavesdropping on their personal life.

BROOKS: But it was loud enough for you to hear from them on the aft deck all the way with you up in the bridge? It was that loud?

DAVERN: Oh, yes, yes, because the difference between the bridge and the aft deck and their stateroom is, the floor on the bridge is really the ceiling in their aft stateroom. And then, from the aft deck to the bridge, it's only a plastic -- they call it isinglass enclosure. It is like a plastic glass.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

Mr. Davern, I have a question here. This four-hour wait before any authorities were contacted, do you regret that you didn't do more to search for Natalie Wood that evening?

DAVERN: Yes, I do regret. It was, like, a mistake that I made. I do regret that. Yes, I do, really.

MALVEAUX: And finally, we know that you lied to investigators before about this. How do we know we're not -- you're not lying to us now?

DAVERN: Well, when you say I lied to them before, it's just the three of us, we weren't telling the whole truth. And I really have no reason to lie about anything anyway now.

MALVEAUX: OK. Well, we appreciate your story. We appreciate as well your account of this.

We're going to be hearing a lot more about this case. There's actually a news conference by the L.A. Sheriff's Office. That is happening at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, so we will get a lot more information about this developing story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Cities across the country, they are pulling themselves back together today after a night of Occupy protests.

So, in New York alone, 245 people were arrested after a stare- down between protesters and police. Dozens more were arrested everywhere from L.A. to Miami.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: What do you think you have accomplished so far?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we are drawing attention. We're validating this movement. It is a long time coming. People want fairness and justice. We want a new social contract for health care, for education.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pointing guns at people over there. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Protesting these police. They --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Were you expecting to get pushed off the sidewalk?

UNIDENTIFID FEMALE: No, this is a public sidewalk.

UNIDENTIFID MALE: They were standing on the sidewalk and they push and shoved me. My glasses got broke. I got hit in the stomach with a baton for standing on the sidewalk.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'd like to see them do what the millionaires did the other day when they marched on Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The message we're trying to send to New York is we love you and we're with you and we know this is not a movement about urban camping and occupy still thrives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The majority of the demonstrations, they were peaceful, but there were some tense moments. There was some violence as well.

I want to bring back law enforcement analyst, Mike Brooks, to talk about the police response. You and I watched this unfold yesterday afternoon. How did NYPD do overall?

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I would give them an "A" overall for their restraints and I think they did a good job of handling the crowds because we saw little pockets of violence. For the most part the demonstrators were peaceful.

And they got the message across. You know, last night, when they got to the Brooklyn Bridge, 99 of them got arrested. That was 99 for the 99 percent that they call themselves. But overall, I think the NYPD, I think they did an admirable job.

You saw them trying to maintain a low profile. You saw some officers who were in the arrest teams with helmets on. You saw barricades being thrown to law enforcement, but you only had throughout the day with the thousands of protesters, you only had 245 arrests, but you also had seven police officers who were injured.

Of the four we talked about it yesterday, apparently it was vinegar they believe that it was sprayed in the eyes of the officers. Another officer had his hand cut by something that was thrown from the crowd.

Now unfortunately, Suzanne, in these crowds you're going to have pockets of people who want to come out there and who want to confront police no matter what. But for the most, you don't.

MALVEAUX: Let's look at some video here. Some are calling this some incidents of police brutality, quite frankly. There's a protesters who is bleeding from the head after being arrested. The police say they gave this guy a lot of chances before acting. They say that this guy threw a pen at them, a "AAA" battery stolen officers had.

So based on their accounting of this, what do you make of that, is that normal police protocol to use that kind of force? Does that look like that's too much?

BROOKS: How did it happen? We don't know because we didn't see the exact time of the arrest when this guy had taken off his hat. Did he run from them? Did he fall? We don't know exactly what happened, but law enforcement looks into these incidents like this.

They have people out there, their own people, videotaping all the arrests, confrontations and if you notice, on the helmets, if they can identify anyone, they have their numbers, their badge numbers on their helmets to help ready identify anyone who is involved in an arrest situation that may look questionable.

MALVEAUX: Mike, we know, too, that police officers are often put in difficult situations because on one hand they have to do crowd control, but the other hand they are the 99 percent. I mean, these guys are working class guys. A lot of them express empathy with --

BROOKS: Right. A lot of these guys don't want to be out there. These men and women, they don't want to be out there anymore than anyone else, but they have their job to do.

MALVEAUX: All right, Mike, thanks. Appreciate it.

BROOKS: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: Sex abuse counselors getting lots of calls in the aftermath of the Penn State and now Syracuse allegations against the coaches there. I'm going to talk to head of the group, "Stop It Now" about why this is.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: More men are coming forward to say that Jerry Sandusky molested them. The former Penn State assistant coach already charged with molesting eight boys. The lawyer for men says that Sandusky's denials prompted his clients to go public now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ANDERSON, ATTORNEY FOR ALLEGED VICTIMS: There is a pattern that has emerged not only in the folks that have engaged us, but the calls we have received that in every instance Sandusky used his position of trust and power and his caring ways as a coach and mentor to groom the families and children.

As soon as Sandusky gave the interview in which he denied the sexual abuse, the numbers of contacts that have been made with us at our office have really ratcheted up dramatically. When you hear Sandusky, you really get a glimpse into the mind of the molester. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: The attorney who says the men's claims are legitimate, but police are still looking at those cases.

So I want to go beyond the headlines next. Just a minute, we're going to try to get new laws on the books that would require incidents like these to be reported to police. We'll be talking to an expert about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're now going beyond the headlines. First, Penn State, now the Citadel and Syracuse University, they're being forced to deal with accusations of sexual abuse years after the alleged abuse happened.

Joining me now, Deborah Donovan-Rice, she is the executive director of "Stop It Now," it's a group that seeks to end child sexual abuse.

Deborah, we are hearing since the Penn State case about sexual abuse victims all over the country calling hot lines after Sandusky comes out and says he's just horsing around and taking showers with boys. What has been the response? What's been the reaction here?

DEBORAH DONOVAN RICE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, "STOP IT NOW": Well, our contacts to us over the last few weeks since the story broke have increased by 130 percent. We have a toll-free number that we've had since the mid '90s and we also answer e-mails. People prefer e-mail these days, we are finding.

MALVEAUX: And why do you suppose this is happening? Are people listening to these cases, other abuse cases, does it trigger something? Does it make them think about their own situation or do you think people feel safer to come forward? What's actually going on?

RICE: Well, I think it is the latter. I think that, yes, it does stir up emotions, but I also think that having other people already be in the conversation that individuals who are wanting to do something about what they're feeling and thinking is easier for them to speak out.

These conversations have been going on across this country for years and years and years, but in isolation. And one of the things that having this story be so public and high-profile is doing is making it more acceptable to talk about this very difficult to talk about issue. One that often people just want to put off to the side and avoid having conversations.

MALVEAUX: What do you think of how these matters have been handled? It seems as if they go to campus police. You have the case in Penn State. You have the only campus police being alerted to these alleged sexual abuse charges. At the Citadel, you have the school apologizing just this week for not taking these allegations against this camp counselor to city police. Does there need to be some sort of law?

Does there need to be a policy here that automatically says, look, in these kinds of serious cases we don't take it to the campus police, we take it to those who can lock up and arrest these guys?

RICE: Well, in every state we have mandatory reporting laws, which say who is required to report. But they're different from state to state. In every youth serving organization across the country, there are different policies and procedures.

I hate to sound sort of bureaucratic, but what we need is a standardized way of dealing with the situation when a child discloses or a youth or when there is a suspicion of.

So for example, it would be, I think, very helpful to have a nationwide mandatory law -- mandatory reporting law that is targeting the leadership in youth serving organizations, you know, such as teachers, principals, coaches.

But I would not take it so far as to the general public, because our child protection system is already overworked and overtaxed. So anybody can report now. I mean you don't have to be mandated by law to report. You can report.

But I think perhaps there was some confusion about what would happen once a report has been made such as -- you know. So I think having some clarity about what happens next and then for all adults to know that even if the system fails, that there are other things they can do. I mean a lot of our calls are from people who have been in these situations where systems fail.

MALVEAUX: All right, Deborah Donovan Rice, thank you so much. We appreciate your perspective and obviously some good, if there can be good to come out of this, is to allow people to come forward without shame and to actually report their abuse. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Say it ain't so. Sad day for Regis Philbin fans. This morning, more than 28 years of morning chitchat on ABC, a career that producers say spans, OK, 995,600 minutes of television. Regis is leaving "Live With Regis and Kelly." His last show aired this morning. He celebrated a fantastic career with a celebrity-filled audience, his family, of course, his co-star Kelly. We caught up with both of them after the show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REGIS PHILBIN, TALK SHOW HOST: Well, I would say to Gelman, isn't this a bit too much farewell to Regis, you know, after a while? But we -- I thought it was just wonderful. And today with the audience filled with friends of mine that I've known -- that I've made here in New York and family and people -- kids that I grew up with in the Bronx a hundred years ago, I mean it was a great, great way to say good-bye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: A wonderful good-bye. He's going to be missed.

Well, we are fast approaching the busiest travel time of the year and that means a lot of flying. A new survey asked Americans how they feel about reclining seats on an airplane. Thirteen percent say it depends on who's sitting behind them, 15 percent say they only recline when they're sleeping, 17 percent of Americans think it's rude to recline under any circumstance and 27 percent think that seats, they shouldn't recline at all. But is it your right it recline? Well, what they had to say about that up next.

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MALVEAUX: All right, so is it your right to recline? We're talking about the plane seats, of course. Twenty-seven percent of those asked in the survey said yes. That means less leg room for the rest of us. The Air Transport Association predicts more than 23 million Americans are going to be flying over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I'll be one of those folks.

Well, her dream was to become a ballerina and she refused to be held back because of the color of her skin. We'll see how this young lady is sharing her passion for dance with the next generation.

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MALVEAUX: Checking some other stories we're covering across the country.

Two police officers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have been fired, could face criminal charges after the release of this video. So here you see it. The officers appear to be celebrating after one of them kicked a suspect in the head more than a dozen times. The suspect is accused of stealing a car.

In Florida, a school bus driver gets a one-day suspension for texting while driving. Yes, it happened two months ago. But before that, parents had complained about this driver for other reasons, so the school decided to put a surveillance camera on the bus.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now after the break.

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MALVEAUX: A ballerina is raising the bar in the mainly white world of classical ballet. In this "What Matters," we meet Misty Copeland, an award-winning dancer who's inspiring young girls of color to stay on their toes.

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MALVEAUX (voice-over): Misty Copeland isn't your average ballerina. She's the first black female soloist for the American Ballet Theater in more than 20 years.

MISTY COPELAND, BALLERINA: I think that most people's idea of what a classical ballerina is, is a white woman, very thin, you know, petite, without curves.

MALVEAUX: Outside the ballerina world, curvy may not be the word used would use to describe Misty, but she is reshaping the idea of what a ballerina should look like.

COPELAND: A lot of the challenges I think black women in ballet face are feeling like you don't look like, you know, the people around you.

MALVEAUX: Copeland began dancing at age 13 and was often the only black girl in her dance classes. She says race wasn't an issue when she fell in love with ballet.

COPELAND: I never questioned myself. I never thought, I'm not a ballerina because I don't look like the girl next to me.

MALVEAUX: And now she's on a mission to make sure young minority girls feel the same way through her work with organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs. She hopes to encourage dancers of color to be true to themselves.

IMANI DEJESUS, BALLET STUDENT: She taught us that even if we're different, if we're unique, we can be just as equal as anybody else.

MALVEAUX: Copeland says the first step is to follow your dreams.

COPELAND: The message I want to send to them is just that anything is possible if you truly are passionate about it and give it your all.

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MALVEAUX: Good for her.