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Wildfires Out West, Gulf Coast Floods; Shooting Near Auburn Campus; Wounded Veterans To Climb Mt. McKinley; Rain Suspends French Open; Mayor Says Detroit Could Go Broke; NYT: Rise In Students Taking "Study Drug"; Creflo Dollar Fights Back

Aired June 10, 2012 - 14:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Fires and floods are causing serious problems in two parts of the country right now.

People are looking for higher ground on the gulf coast and fires in western states have burned about 24,000 acres. Right now, Colorado firefighters are trying to get a handle on the high-point fire.

Fourteen thousand acres have burned in the northern part of the state forcing more evacuations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR JOHN HICKENLOOPER, COLORADO: Our primary goal is to make sure we get all the people out of the way of the fire. You know, it is a terrible thing to have people waiting hearing about their homes.

That's a 1,000 times worse to have someone missing. Our focus right now is to make sure the evacuations -- we're going house to house to make sure we get people out of harm's way as much as humanly possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And as you can see, it's still very difficult. Live imagines right now and the aerial shots of what these firefighters are up against. So far more than a dozen structures have been lost or damaged.

Meanwhile, in Southern New Mexico, firefighters are trying to get the upper hand on a fire that has now burned about 10,000 acres there. It's a very different story, however, right now on the gulf coast.

They are dealing with heavy rain fall, which has caused massive flooding. The worse still isn't cover. Storms have already drenched to Escambia County and now a state of emergency has been declared. People living in low-lying areas are being urged to evacuate.

And according to the National Weather Service, Pensacola received 13 inches of rain in one day. It's still raining right now. Let's bring in John Dosh, Escambia County Florida emergency manager joining us by phone.

So give me an idea, the pictures make it look very devastating and very miserable for awful lot of people. How are you able to meet their needs?

JOHN DOSH, EMERGENCY MANAGER, ESCAMBIA COUNTY, FLORIDA (via telephone): Well, we're doing the best we can. We have some shelters open providing some shelter spaces for those people who have to evacuate due to the flooding.

And we're advising all residents that live in areas that are typically low lying or have flooding problems when we have heavy rains to consider going to higher ground, maybe with friends or family elsewhere in the county.

So it's just trying to get people out of harm's way is the challenge right now.

WHITFIELD: And what's your greatest worry now? What's the forecast?

DOSH: Well, we're still seeing more rain. Unfortunately last night, over the overnight hours we had very little rains. We had a lot of time for some of the flood waters to drain off.

But they're forecasting additional rain fall, anywhere from 5 to 10 inches before midnight tonight. So we're just hoping that we can get some dry weather.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and what kind of warnings are you giving people? We're looking at imagines where some people are out in the water, whether they are in, you know, canoes or they have in knee deep water even sometimes that can be very dangerous with potential flash flooding. What are you warning people?

DOSH: Well, we're trying to encourage them to stay out of the water. Certainly stay off the roads and not drive through flooded roads because that could be very hazardous.

You know, some of the conditions for people wondering in flood waters is not real healthy for them. So we're encouraging them to stay out of flood waters all together.

Certainly, don't want get anybody caught up in the drainage that is occurring as well. So the big message is stay out of the flood waters if at all possible.

WHITFIELD: All right, John Dosh, of Escambia County Emergency Management, thanks so much. And all the best as you continue to reach out to people in greatest need.

DOSH: Thank you. Bye-bye.

WHITFIELD: All right, in Alabama now, three young men are dead. A third is fighting for his life after a shooting near the campus of Auburn University in Alabama. Three others are wounded. Two of the dead are former Auburn football players.

There's now a man hunt on for the suspect in the shooting. Police say there was a fight last night at a party that simply got out of control. The police chief spoke at a news conference just a few minutes ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF TOMMY DAWSON, AUBURN POLICE: This is a trying time because it's not only university students and athletes, but it's young people. It's six young people that have been shot. We're -- as you can tell, the community is shaken by this and grieving today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining me on the phone is John Holtrop. He is the sports editor at the "Auburn Plainsman" and senior at the university.

All right, John, this is heart breaking to learn that some former players have died as a result of this party where something went wrong. Are you learning anything more about what happened at that party? What precipitated this violence?

JOHN HOLTROP, SPORTS EDITOR, "AUBURN PLAINSMAN": Well, yes. The press conference ended about moments ago held by Chief Tommy Dawson and all they reported was that police arrived on the scene at 10:03 and there was one man found dead on the sidewalk.

And at that point there was five others taken to the hospital and two others were pronounced dead at the hospital. And outside of that, like I said, there is a man hunt. They do have a suspect. They have a name and they're tracking him down.

WHITFIELD: Is that suspect somebody who was a student at Auburn?

HOLTROP: He was not. He is a resident of Montgomery, Alabama about 45 minutes west.

WHITFIELD: OK, what more do you know about the former players, John?

HOLTROP: Pardon me?

WHITFIELD: What more do you know about the former players who were killed in this terrible incident?

HOLTROP: Well, Ed Christianson, he was a red shirt freshman. He was the one pronounced dead on the scene. He was a former player. He did not play due to injury last year, season-ending injury.

Gary Phillips recently left the team. He was pronounced dead last night. And Eric Mets, he's a current player, offensive lineman. He is at East Alabama Medical Center and he is said to be released in several days. He is not in critical condition.

WHITFIELD: All right, John Holtrop, thanks so much for that information. I know it is devastate an awful lot of families and community there at Auburn.

All right, five wounded warriors, four good legs, three wars, two generations, one mountain, all that about to take on Mt. McKinley. These mountain climbing war vets will join us before their journey. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, climbing Mt. McKinley in Alaska is a challenge. It is the highest peak in North America at over 20,000 feet. Boy, is that beautiful and remarkable?

By the way, it's one of the coldest in the world and even greater challenge if you're an amputee, but that hasn't stopped my next guests from setting out to climb the mountain together.

Joining us live from Anchorage, Alaska, five wounded veterans. They had to base camp tomorrow to begin their climb up Mt. McKinley, which is also called Denali.

Kirk Bower, Neil Duncan, Steve Martin, Dave Borton and Jessie Acost, gentlemen, great to see all of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well, fantastic. Kirk, let me begin with you. The last time we spoke, you were in Breaker Ridge. You were just simply unstoppable. It's like one adventure after the next.

So all of you make up the first team of amputees, trying to scale Denali in Alaska together so why and what's going to be the greatest challenge about this peak?

SGT. KIRK M. BAUER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DISABLED SPORTS USA: Well, actually, Fredricka, there's a number of challenges that we're training for.

One of them, of course, is the prosthesis themselves. They're made of plastic and metal and very, very cold weather, the carbon fiber, the plastic may crack. It does a lot of pressure on our residual limb.

Exertion wise, people like Steve Martin here, a double amputee, they'll spend as much as 200 percent more energy climbing this mountain as nondisabled person.

So we actually have to be in better shape than the regular climbers to try to meet this challenge. So there are a lot of challenges, but we think that we've prepared for it and ready to go.

WHITFIELD: My goodness, and you know, Kirk, this is not a first for you guys doing these incredibly climbs. You actually led a team of all amputees back in 2010 of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. So how is this going to compare, conditions very, very different?

BAUER: Well, the Kilimanjaro climb with Neil Duncan and myself and another wounded warrior was really a tough climb. But this has been described as Kilimanjaro is the pussy cat and Denali is the tiger.

So we know that with the ice and the snow and the crevasses that this is going to much, much tougher challenge for us. But the whole purpose really is to try to inspire and motivate the severely wounded that are coming back from Afghanistan. And let them know, give them a message of hope, that no matter what has happened to them, injury wise, they will be able to come back and lead an active life through sports.

And I think we all feel that sports really played an important part in turning around our lives and getting us back on the road to recovery.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Neil, you can either get the credit or blame for this. Wasn't this your idea of taking on Denali? How in the world did this come about and why?

SGT. NEIL DUNCAN, AFGHANISTAN WAR VETERAN: Well, this whole seed was planted a couple years ago when I made an attempt to Kilimanjaro and we weren't successful. So I came back frustrated with the situation, realized that it was all about planning.

It makes a lot of sense. So planning for the injuries that are of the guys that are on the team, planning for contingencies is so on and so forth. We parlayed that into a successful summit of Kilimanjaro.

And then Kirk and I were talking about Denali, and realized, you know, this is something that again, if it's planned correctly, if we have the right contingencies, anybody can tackle this mountain.

WHITFIELD: Wow, and so Steve, you know, to you, this isn't just a personal challenge, even though Kirk was pointing out, you have to be 200 percent better shape than anybody else given the prosthetics and equipment you're dealing with.

But this challenge really does symbolize the challenges of other wounded warriors, their families and others with disabilities as well, right?

CPL. STEVE MARTIN, AFGHANISTAN VETERAN: It is. After I was injured, getting back to -- trying to get back to what I considered a normal life, I think I set the bar too low.

Then when I met Kirk and got involved with Disabled Sports USA and war fighter sports it helped me raise the bar to try to go out and do the things that were more challenges than are bigger challenges than I was putting on myself.

Being involved going out and doing the baton death march and trying to like Kirk said motivate and inspire people to get off the couch, accept their injuries, accept what's happened, move on, move forward and just not sit there and feel sad and upset.

Get your families involved. Go out and do as much as you can and not set the bar too low. We're going to go out and this team of five guys, we're going to go out and show the other wounded warriors coming back. We're going to conquer this mountain.

WHITFIELD: This is a very high bar. You know, Dave, you know, if Kirk was talking about Kilimanjaro being the pussy cat. You know, Denali really being the tiger, let's talk about the conditions that you are going to be encountering. We're talking about glaciers, separated by razor edge, ridges and massive granite rock. There's going to be fierce wind. How have you prepared yourself and what kind of equipment do you have to maintain the stability that you're going need and endurance to deal with these kinds of conditions?

CAPT. DAVID BORDEN, STILL ON ACTIVE DUTY: We are going to face numerous obstacles throughout this climb. Each of us have different equipment, prosthetics whether we're above the knee or below the knee or bilateral. It's going to be a team effort, very patient. Just take each obstacle as they come to us.

WHITFIELD: Wow, and Jessie, your greatest fear or worry or perhaps the thing that inspires you the most about taking on this peak?

CAPT. JESSE ACOSTA, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: I think we all each have individual fears. We're not of course letting one another know them. I think -- I think for me, you know, as you start to get to know one another.

The emotional bond and really what we're trying to do, what we're trying to attempt with respect to showing others that this can be done. It's really inspiring for us as individuals and as a team.

So I think the greatest fear personally is that all this training, all this preparation, that which you can't control, be it an obstacle like Dave mentioned or some type of uncontrollable event, prevents one or some of us from not making it.

I think that's my own personal fear. The hope is, you know, we always try to minimize and just forget about that, which you can't control and try to maximize that, which you can in hopes of making it.

But, you know, we'll see. I think at the end of the day, we're all veterans. There's not a lot that we do fear.

WHITFIELD: Wow, well, incredible. You are all an incredible inspiration. Giving yourselves 20 days or may take more, doesn't really matter. You're going to pace yourselves as best you can.

Thanks so much to all of you. Best of luck as you begin that climb. Make it to that base camp tomorrow. Jessie Acosta, Dave Borden, Steve Martin, Neil Duncan, Kirk Bower, thanks to all of you and all the best on your mission. Go ahead.

BOWER: We'll be reporting it to you. People can watch wit on -- can follow it on warfightersports.org, Fredricka, and we'll be sending information down the mountain about our climb. So we hope that your listeners and your viewers will take a look at warfightersports.org and follow our progress.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic. This is a fundraiser people make their donations to the War Fighter Sports Program. You are doing an incredible job, excellent.

And of course, here is more information for those of you at home. If you do want to donate, visit my blog at cnn.com and follow the link to their web site and learn more about what these extraordinary gentleman are about to do and all that they've already done. We'll have much more of CNN right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Today's top stories. All eyes are on Paris, tomorrow, that's when play resumes in the men's final of the French Open. Rain suspended action in the fourth round today with Rafael Nadal leading Novak Djokovic.

The two players are hoping to break key records. If Nadal wins, he will be the first with seven French open single titles. If Djokovic takes home the trophy, it will be his fourth consecutive grand slam titles, something last done by Rod Laver in 1969.

All right, presidential Mitt Romney once wrote an op-ed saying let Detroit go bankrupt. Well, now the city of Detroit could actually go broke. That's according to Mayor Dave Bing and the city's chief financial officer.

They say the city will run out of money Friday. State officials are refusing to hand over $80 million owed to the city unless Detroit drops a lawsuit that would block the state from seizing control of the city's finances.

Detroit has already cut services including street lights to stay afloat. Tomorrow morning the mayor and city council will meet to try to overt the crisis.

High school kids face a lot of pressure into getting into college, but it turns out an increasing number of students are abusing prescription drugs Adderall and Ritalin to help them face their tests.

Some call them study drugs. The "New York Times" is reporting on the increasing problems. The report says students take these drugs before their exams. They say the drug drugs give students a boost of energy and increase their attention span.

But the DEA list Adderall and Ritalin as class two controlled substances, the same class as cocaine and heroin. Experts say using the drugs could long-term neurological effects.

All right now, for this week's "Travel Insider." If you're looking to save on your vacation, you may want to consider a staycation or looking to visit a place that may be close to home.

CNN producer, Jamie Maglietta, recently moved to Atlanta and found Savannah, Georgia can be a pretty fun get away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MAGLIETTA, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): While researching weekend trips from Atlanta, I realized Savannah is only four hours from the city. What we love about Savannah is River Street. The cobblestone street borders the Savannah River. It has a New Orleans feel with southern hospitality and get this, street drinks. Yes, you can stroll along River Street with a beer in your hand.

Besides beer, there are also tasty restaurants. If you want seafood, I suggest you try Fiddlers or Tubby. But if you want to take a break from River Street's festivities, walk 7 minutes to Lady and Sons.

It's own by Paula Dean. I recommend you try shrimp and grits. If you're looking for a place to stay, you may want to try Bohemian Hotel right on River Street.

It is across from the Savannah River and the World War II Memorial. Just keep in mind, hotels along the Savannah River are pricey, so I recommend you stay further out of town to save.

(on camera): That's River Street in Savannah Georgia, I'm Jamie Maglietta, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thanks, Jamie.

And if you don't live in Atlanta, Savannah is still pretty easy to get to. It's just a few hours by plane from New York City and that's this week's "Travel Insider."

And a Mega Church pastor speaks out after being arrested on charges of cruelty to children. What he said this morning to his congregation outside Atlanta?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: He preaches prosperity, but he's in trouble with the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PASTO CREFLO DOLLAR, WORLD CHANGERS CHURCH INTERNATIONAL: I want to say this very empathically, I should have never been arrested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Creflo Dollar is the pastor of the Atlanta based Megachurch, World Changers International. He defended himself from his pulpit today against child abuse allegations.

Dollars's daughter called 911 Friday claiming he choked and punched her. The pastor says they were arguing because he wouldn't allow her to go to a party. He suggested the arrest is an attempt to smear him and his worldwide ministry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLLAR: The devil knows in order to discredit the message you have to first of all discredit the messenger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Dollar faces misdemeanor charges of simple battery and cruelty to children.

And I'll be back in one hour face to face with musician, actor, and philanthropist, Tim McGraw. He explains the transition from music to movies wasn't seamless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM MCGRAW, MUSICIAN/ACTOR: As a musician, you spend a lot of time trying to be cool. I think that that's sort of like your goal in life. I'm a musician, I'm cool. There's a lot of times when you step into a movie set and step into a cool that there's nothing cool about that character.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That's at 4:00 Eastern Time. So stay with us. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "YOUR MONEY" starts right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)