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Discovery Launches Successfully; Heat Scorches East; London Investigation Continues; Police and Tasers; Georgia Lynching Case

Aired July 26, 2005 - 14:58   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good luck and godspeed and have a little fun up there. Those are NASA's instructions for the seven astronauts on the Space Shuttle Discovery today. The ship is speeding toward the International Space Station right now after a morning full of emotion and suspense.
CNN's Sean Callebs reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED: Three, two, one and lift-off of Space Shuttle Discovery!

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joy and relief today for NASA after the first successful shuttle launch since the Columbia disaster in 2003. Faulty equipment forced NASA to delay its plan for two weeks, but Discovery lifted off without a hitch. NASA had one more than 100 cameras trained on the shuttle during lift-off, including cameras and aircraft flying at 65,000 feet, as scientists and engineers monitored every detail to make sure there was no repeat of the Columbia disaster.

Now, job one for the crew is to inspect the spacecraft for damage that may have occurred during lift-off. Leading the way is mission specialist Andy Thomas.

ANDY THOMAS, MISSION SPECIALIST: I have a number of responsibilities, but probably the most important one is to lead the inspections of the orbiter that we're going to do on the second flight day to ensure that it has not suffered any damage from any (INAUDIBLE) or debris during the launch phase.

CALLEBS: That is just one of many new safety procedures the crew will test out, hoping to create new guidelines for future shuttle missions.

(on camera): Legions of space reporters, as well a crowd of media, gathering to watch NASA return to flight after two-and-half years, a wait made even more agonizing by a 12-day delay with a faulty fuel sensor. But in the middle, a picture perfect launch.

At the Kennedy Space Center, I'm Sean Callebs reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, get your shuttle Discovery news any time at CNN.com, where you can also follow a play-by-play account of the launch through CNN space correspondent Miles O'Brien's Shuttle Blog. And tune in for WOLF BLITZER REPORTS for a special look at the future of space flight. That's today, 5:00 Eastern, 2:00 Pacific.

Shuttle spectators were subjected to the sweltering heat that's blanketing much of the east coast. Cities including Washington, Philadelphia, New York, they're all under heat advisories or warnings today.

Dangerously high temperatures also being felt in Charleston, South Carolina. People there handing out water to the elderly. And so far, more than 30 deaths across the country are believed to be heat-related.

Reporter Tracey Early from News 14 Carolina joins us from Raleigh, North Carolina, with a look at what's being done to keep people safe.

Tell us what's happening.

TRACEY EARLY, REPORTER, NEWS 14 CAROLINA: Well, Kyra, this area is under an excessive heat warning today. It's about a couple degrees away from a 100. In the sun, it feels likes 115 degrees.

Because of that, you've got postal workers and volunteers in this area paying special attention to the elderly. And for many senior citizens in this area, it's the only interaction they get all day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EARLY (voice-over): Seventy-eight-year-old can't remember a summer this hot. But she knows exactly when Meals on Wheels is supposed to deliver her lunch.

JANICE BARNETT, RALEIGH RESIDENT: Most of the time, that's the only person I see in a day, is when they come by.

EARLY: And volunteers come by with more than just a hot plate. With temperatures feeling well above 100, they're paying special attention to the most fragile people.

NANCY MOORE, MEALS ON WHEELS VOLUNTEER: We deliver the meals. We go in, and we check on the people, make sure they're OK, make sure they have a fan, they have air conditioning, or whatever. If somebody doesn't come to the door, then I call in, make sure somebody will follow up on that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Ms. Barnett, how are you?

EARLY: Senior citizens on door-to-door mail routes also get some extra attention. The U.S. Postal Service has a carrier alert program where carriers are encouraged to keep close tabs on the elderly.

DARLENE STEWART, MAIL CARRIER: ... knock on the door and say, "So-and-so, are you OK? Everything is all right?" Because sometimes they're out in the porch, and you see them regularly. All of a sudden, their mail will start accumulating or if not, you know, you just don't see them. And you never know what may happen to them inside.

EARLY: The extra effort helps Barnett keep her cool.

BARNETT: If it wasn't for that, I don't know what. I mean, they just are a delight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

EARLY: The National Weather Service has already issued an excessive heat watch for tomorrow. And postal workers and those volunteers are planning much of the same routine because of that.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Oh, Tracey, my heart goes out to those elderly folks. Tracey Early, thank you so much.

Well, how hot is it out there, specifically? Let's turn to meteorologist Jacqui Jeras at the CNN Weather Center. I know how hot it is here, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, very warm in Atlanta. Very warm in Raleigh, too. In fact, Raleigh is really kind of the heart of where the worst of the heat is. You heard that report just say 115 degrees for the heat index. And that is extremely dangerous.

And we have at least another day of it across the southeast. The northeast, also, one more day.

The heat relief is right around the corner, however. And check out this line. What a difference. You can see 99 in St. Louis, while Chicago is 81. And you haven't even reached 70 degrees yet in Minneapolis. Beautiful, wonderful, cool air here.

It is going to be diving down to the south and the east over the next couple of days. And everyone should see some heat relief before the weekend arrives.

New York City, you're in the thick of it right now. Ninety-two degrees is your temperature, but it feels like 102. You can see a little bit of a haze out there. You are under the heat advisory. Tomorrow should be in the 90s, as well.

Take a look at our map for New York City for the five-day forecast, looking very nice by your Thursday, Partly cloudy and 77. And look at the start of the weekend, too. Eighty-two degrees on Saturday and mostly sunny skies. Looking very, very nice there.

A cold front helping to bring in the cool air is also triggering some showers and thunderstorms here. A few of you into the Ohio Valley are going to get it here for today. And that's going to help keep your temperatures down just a little bit.

Atlanta looking at mid-90s today and tomorrow, 90 by Thursday. No miracles here, but we're going to be down into the 80s, so looking a little bit better by the weekend. Some severe thunderstorms possible in northern parts of the Ohio Valley and lower Great Lakes.

And, Kyra, just for fun, I threw this in for you, because I personally am tired of saying the word "H-O-T." Here's some operative words for you. My favorite is thermogenic.

PHILLIPS: Thermogenic, I like that. I think I like "searing," also.

JERAS: Yes, searing, yes, that's a good one. It kind of makes me hungry, though, too.

PHILLIPS: Searing, sultry, we can do a little alliteration. We can just throw them all in there. Very good, Jacqui. You should be up here helping us write.

JERAS: Oh, I used to write.

PHILLIPS: I know. You still do, actually.

JERAS: Yes, I do once in a while.

PHILLIPS: I've seen your pieces.

All right, Jacqui, we'll keep checking in with you. Thank you so much.

Well, the Boy Scouts are mourning the loss of four scout leaders who were killed in a freak accident. The men apparently were electrocuted while setting up a tent yesterday during the Boy Scouts National Jamboree in Virginia. Three of the dead were from Alaska, the fourth from Ohio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGG SHIELDS, BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA: Our hearts go out to the families. Excuse me. Our hearts go out to the families of these dedicated scout leaders who gave so much to their sons, their troops, and their communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Strong words this time from Britain's prime minister today about the roots of terror. Speaking to reporters after meeting with opposition leaders about strengthening Britain's anti-terror laws, Tony Blair voiced his ideas about what must be done before terrorism can be defeated. And he added the world can't give an inch when it comes to taking a stand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: It's time we stopped saying, "OK, we abhor their methods, but we kind of see something in their ideas," or, "Maybe they've got a sliver of excuse or justification." They've got no justification for it. And one other thing I want to say, as well, while we're still on the subject, if I might. Neither have they any justification for killing people in Israel, either. Let's just get that out of the way, as well. There is no justification for suicide bombing whether in Palestine, Iraq, in London, in Egypt, in Turkey, anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Meanwhile, British investigators probing last week's attacks are focusing on a London apartment building. It's where one of the prime suspects lived and where he met with another. We're learning new details about both men.

Muktar Said Ibrahim is a British citizen who came to this country from Eritrea in 1992. Police say he tried to set off a bomb on a double-decker bus on Hackney Road Thursday.

Yasin Hassan Omar is a Somalian national who also arrived in Britain in 1992. Police say he tried to set off a bomb on a train near the Warren Street station. They and two other men are the subject of an intense manhunt.

And at the same time, British transit officials are trying to reassure the public about the safety of London's trains and buses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM O'TOOLE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, LONDON TRANSPORT: We're constantly drilling, on every line. I mean, we even participated in a major exercise, Atlantic Blue (ph), with people over in the states this past summer.

But prior to that, we did a large-scale drill with the emergency services at a major station in town. And just three weeks prior to this incident, we did a drill at Tower Hill, which is on the Circle Line itself.

It's about constantly taking people through routines so that, when something happens, they just act automatically. They follow their training.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And a reminder today of the jitters that remain for air travelers. A United flight from Los Angeles to London was diverted after passengers complained that three Pakistani men on board were acting suspiciously. The plane landed at Boston's Logan Airport.

Everyone was removed, and the aircraft and bags were searched, but nothing suspicious was found. The men were questioned, released and put on a different flight to London. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night on news that affects your security.

Now stunning news on the consumer front as a new ad campaign for Taser guns takes aim at the self-defense market in Miami, Florida. Here's CNN's Susan Candiotti. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As more and more police departments turn to Tasers, a controversial but mostly non-lethal way to drop an offender to his knees. The company that makes the stun gun is starting an advertising campaign to get its product into more civilian hands.

Want to drop a bad guy? Zap him with 50,000 volts.

TOM SMITH, PRESIDENT, TASER INTERNATIONAL: There's a lot of people out there these days that are concerned for their safety and their well-being. And this is just providing another tool, you know, to be able to defend themselves and make themselves more confident.

CANDIOTTI: In just over a decade, Taser says it sold more than 100,000 of its guns to consumers.

(on-screen): How big of a seller are they?

JAVIER ALONSO, MERCHANT: We sell about anywhere from 15 to about 25 Tasers a month.

CANDIOTTI: You consider that good?

ALONSO: Well, it's no way near our firearms sales, but it is pretty brisk.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): And Taser says it will offer personal home instruction for its customers. Taser has long-promoted its products for police as less harmful than a whacked with a baton, even when dealing with unruly teenagers. This Florida high school student was Tasered.

JAMAL CURTIS, STUDENT: It's just like downright pain just all shooting all up in through my chest area. From my whole upper body was just like I couldn't move, I couldn't control myself.

CANDIOTTI: Taser insists its products are safe. Critics, including Amnesty International, say Tasers have claimed 100 lives. Taser blames most, if not all, of those deaths on drug use or other preexisting health problems. But some law enforcers are uncomfortable encouraging the public to buy Tasers.

CHIEF JOHN TIMONEY, MIAMI POLICE: If it's out there in the general public, in the public domain, it's apt to be in the hands of people who won't be using it for the right reasons.

CANDIOTTI: Miami Police Chief John Timoney says new laws are needed to regulate Tasers, just as they do firearms.

TIMONEY: There is no form of registration. There's no form of training, mandatory training. There is no requirement on the part of the seller to do a background check.

And so you could have people with criminal backgrounds, people who are emotionally disturbed, going out and purchasing Tasers.

CANDIOTTI: Seven states and the District of Columbia already now ban Tasers. But in Florida, there are no restrictions.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: It happened in broad daylight on a road just 60 miles out of the city of Atlanta, the lynching of four African-Americans by a white mob. What you're seeing here, coming up, is actually a re- enactment of the crime. Actually, you're not going to see the re- enactment, but it did happen. We're going to tell you about it, and why it happened, and why some people are hoping that this dramatic episode will lead to arrests.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking news from around the world. The confessed killer of a Dutch filmmaker will spend the rest of his life in prison. The sentence handed to Mohammed Bouyeri was the harshest possible. During his trial, an unapologetic Bouyeri said that he killed Theo Van Gogh because one of his films had insulted Islam.

Israel criticizes the new pope for what it calls a deliberate failure to condemn terrorist attacks against Jews. Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI condemned recent attacks in several countries, but not Israel. A Vatican spokesperson says the pontiff's words apply to all terror attacks in recent days.

The U.S. military won't have to find a new home for its Afghanistan support operation any time soon. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says he's been assured by officials in Kyrgyzstan that the U.S. can keep using an air base there until the situation in nearby Afghanistan is stabilized.

More LIVE FROM right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, they represent some of the ugliest episodes in America, racially motivated killings. And many of them have gone unsolved until now. Just last month, Edgar Ray Killen was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison for the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia and Mississippi.

And recently, authorities exhumed the body of Emmett Till, a 14- year-old Chicago boy lynched in 1955, apparently for whistling at a white woman. They hope an autopsy will yield new clues in that crime and lead to new arrests.

Well, those events gave new urgency to civil rights leaders in Georgia. And yesterday, they staged a dramatic re-enactment of a lynching that happened 59 years ago. No one has ever been prosecuted for this crime. WSB Reporter Richard Elliot has the story from Monroe, Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ELLIOT, REPORTER, WSB-TV: It isn't a real lynching. It's a re-enactment. But to the people playing the parts and the people watching, it's real enough.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really wanted to cry. It was horrible. It was horrible. I'd never seen anything like that in my life.

ELLIOT: Their re-enacting the 1946 lynching of Robert and Dorothy Malcom and Georgian Mae Murray Dorsey, shot to death at the Moore's Ford Bridge. Randy Ansley, smeared with ketchup, played one of the victims.

RANDY ANSLEY, PORTRAYED ONE OF THE VICTIMS: It was real terrifying. I can say that. You know, I felt real terrified when I was actually in the role. I just tried to put myself in their situation and try to, you know, feel what they felt.

REVEREND JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Those victims of acts of terror, they can't prove it. But God knows.

ELLIOT: Jesse Jackson and other civil rights leaders want the U.S. attorney general to reopen the 59-year-old case and prosecute those perpetrators still alive.

JACKSON: They must be pursued and prosecuted. There is no statute of limitations on acts of terror.

ELLIOT: The re-enactment was designed to draw attention to their cause and to prompt investigations and legal action so the dead can rest in peace.

ANSLEY: I want this thing to be brought to an end. I hope they find all the people who did it. You know, it's a bad thing what they did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, our thanks to reporter Richard Elliot with our affiliate WSB here in Atlanta for that report.

Now, joining me now, Georgia lawmaker and civil rights activist Tyrone Brooks, who helped organize the re-enactment you just saw. And I want to talk about that.

First of all, thanks for being with me. Appreciate it.

STATE REP. TYRONE BROOKS (D), GEORGIA: Good to be with you.

PHILLIPS: Yes. It's something that I always think is very important to talk about. And I want to talk about the re-enactment in a second.

But just to put things in perspective, you have a very powerful story, when I was reading about your background. You were 20 years old. You were a civil rights activist in 1968. And you went to an all-black funeral home in Walton County.

BROOKS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: And tell me what happened there.

BROOKS: I was assigned to Walton County by the Reverend Jose Williams (ph), my supervisor at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He sent me to Walton County to work with Reverend Willie Bolden, who was the SCLC director of projects at that time.

When I arrived in Walton County, I went to Monroe, Georgia, to meet Dan Young (ph) who was the undertaker who picked the bodies up and dressed the bodies to prepare them for the funeral. And he walked me into his basement to show me these photographs of the Moore's Ford lynching massacre. And it blew me away.

I'm 20 years old. And I say, "Why in the world do you want me to see this?" He said, "This is warning to you. You're in the capital of the Ku Klux Klan. You cannot come here alone. Call us before you leave Atlanta. We don't want you to end up like these dead people."

So that was 1968. And it's been on my mind. It's been a burden on my shoulders since that time. We had convinced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dr. Ralph Abernathy to come in March of '68. March 23rd of '68, they made a commitment to us. Dr. King went to Memphis, Tennessee, for the sanitation workers' strike. And of course, two weeks later, he was assassinated.

So he never had a chance to focus on the lynchings. Those of us who are veterans of SCLC are today recommitting ourselves to helping solve this horrible massacre.

PHILLIPS: Well, and in Georgia alone, there were 500 and something lynchings.

BROOKS: Correct. Correct.

PHILLIPS: And it's certainly -- I mean, that's the most in any state.

BROOKS: Georgia led the nation in lynchings. Mississippi, probably now, if you look back at our history, Mississippi had more, but Georgia led the nation in lynchings for an awful long time. And this is the last open public mass lynching in America's history that remains unsolved.

No one has ever been prosecuted or arrested. No one has ever said, "We want to go and pick the Klan up," who killed them when their names were listed in the FBI investigation in 1946.

PHILLIPS: And President Truman sent in the FBI to investigate this, 55 witnesses.

BROOKS: Correct. Yes. Yes. PHILLIPS: Fifty-five witnesses.

BROOKS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Nobody prosecuted.

BROOKS: Nobody ever prosecuted. And you know, when you look at Monroe today, you drive through Monroe, you drive through Walton County, look at the road signs and street markers.

The names of those who were listed in the FBI reports as killers are now prominently displayed on roads and streets, and in the court house, and the chamber of commerce, in the bank, in the city halls, school buildings, all around Walton County.

It's been a conspiracy of silence on the part of the power structure in Walton County for 59 years. We know of two suspects that live in Walton County today. One suspect lives less than a mile from the bridge. When I'm on the bridge, he comes by in his red pickup.

PHILLIPS: How old is he now?

BROOKS: Oh, he's probably 79 or 80 years old.

PHILLIPS: What about the other suspect still alive?

BROOKS: The other one is probably 85. There are three other suspects living in Georgia, in addition to those two that live in Walton County.

Now, the FBI and the GBI, they know where they are. They in law enforcement. They can find them any time. We're simply saying to the U.S. attorney general now, "We want the federal government to resume control of this case. You had it in '46. Want to federal government to come back and take it again, because we don't trust the local law enforcement authorities." They will never prosecute this crime at the local level.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's even take a look at the Emmett Till situation and all these other cases that have reopened. There definitely is an effort going on.

BROOKS: Right.

PHILLIPS: I think the Emmett Till case sort of triggered all these other cases to be reopened.

BROOKS: It did.

PHILLIPS: And individuals are being prosecuted.

BROOKS: They are.

PHILLIPS: They're going to serve time. So do you have faith in the system that, indeed, these souls will rest and that these individuals that are still alive could face the penalty they deserved for decades?

BROOKS: I have faith in the system. I believe that the judicial system will work. I believe that the U.S. attorney general, the U.S. Department of Justice, will resume control of the case.

And I believe eventually suspects who are still living will be picked up, indicted, and prosecuted, and face the bar of justice. Mississippi is doing a great job. The attorney general in Mississippi, the D.A. in Philadelphia must be commended. Alabama has done a great job.

But Georgia, nothing has happened. This is the worst tragedy that Georgia ever faced.

PHILLIPS: Tell me about this re-enactment and why you wanted to do it that way. And how did people react?

BROOKS: The reason we did it was because my colleague, my new president at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Senator Charles Dill (ph) from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, marched with us on the bridge on April 4th to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King.

And in his speech, he said, "Tyrone, we should do a re- enactment." Just like that, I said, "Oh, yes. We've got to do it."

So it came from Senator Charles Dill (ph), my president at SCLC. We wanted to do it and follow the time line that occurred 59 years ago. And we did that yesterday. We got community activists. We went out into the community, said, "Come and volunteer and play the role of Loy Harrison. Play the role of Mae and George Dorsey. Play the role of Roger Malcom and Dorothy. And we got a woman who dressed up....

PHILLIPS: These are the individuals, of course, that lost their lives.

BROOKS: Right. And we had a woman that played the role of Dorothy, pregnant. And we also had a Klansman, actors, volunteer from the community. They put on the little white masks. They played the role of the Klansmen.

The Klansmen did not cover their faces in 1946, because they knew they could kill a black person and nothing would happen.

PHILLIPS: Right.

BROOKS: So we had these volunteers, young students from high schools and people in the community, to come and say, "OK, we'll play the role." They did a superb job. I didn't realize they could do such a superb job with no training.

They're not actors. And of course, we had one woman who works here in Atlanta for Georgia Power to take off the day to come and dress them up. And, you know, we had ketchup and makeup that we made up to pour over the bodies.

PHILLIPS: And we saw from the video how it impacted people.

BROOKS: And we had fire crackers in the back simulating rifle and gunshots going off. And that worked perfectly. The guns were not real.

We had law enforcement to check the guns and make sure the guns couldn't fire real weapons. But it was just an awesome scene. And we had people from across America to converge on Walton County for this re-enactment.

PHILLIPS: Well, I'll tell you what. We will follow this, definitely. I hope you'll keep in touch with us and let us know what happens. And if, indeed, the investigation goes forward -- because if any individual is still alive and living a free life that was involved with these lynchings, they deserve to be punished.

BROOKS: I agree with you. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Thank you very much for being here. I appreciate it.

BROOKS: Well, thanks, CNN, for your coverage. You did a superb job. And we appreciate it.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's our pleasure. Representative Tyrone Brooks, thank you.

BROOKS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right. We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

END

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