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Young Golfer Gets Chance To Play In LPGA With A Sponsor's Waiver; Phuket's Struggle To Survive, Rebuild In Aftermath Of Tsunami
Aired December 26, 2005 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And there is no word on whether a reward is being offered for the return of this "Nun Bun."
They are leaving home after 35 years and after tonight, Monday Night Football will depart the warm embrace of ABC. The network had gambled that American might watch the game in prime time, on weeknights. Well, yes, it was a gamble that changed the face of televised sports and made Howard Cosell and Danny Don Meredith household names. The shows' ratings flattened out in recent years though, and hit the lowest ever last season. Beginning next year Monday Night Football goes to ESPN, at a cost to the cable network of over $1 billion a season.
Four months from tomorrow, April 27th, a 13-year-old golfer is to play an event on the LPGA, which is a professional tour. For Dakota Dowd, now 12, teeing it up with some of the best in the world will be a dream come true, only if her mom holds out. CNN's Candy Reid reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDY REID, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like any young golfer Dakota Dowd dreams of playing at the highest levels, but it was her mother's dream that brought national attention.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wouldn't it be incredible if she could go all the way and go ahead and go on the LPGA.
REID: In 2002, Kelly Jo Dowd was diagnosed with breast cancer. She appeared to have beaten the illness in 2004, but just seven months ago the vicious disease returned with vengeance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, it spread to bone cancer, stage four and liver cancer, as well. It was quite, it was quite obviously a smack in my face.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It didn't seem like she had cancer. How could this just pop up again so bad, when we get tests every single month. So, it just didn't make sense.
REID: When the sponsor of an April LPGA event, the GIN (ph) Company, heard about the Dowd story and they made an unprecedented offer, extending one of two exemptions to Dakota allowing her to compete against the tour's best. It was a phone call that changed their lives. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said we're going to give Dakota sponsor's exemption. Mr. Gin is going to do that for her to play. And then I just started crying. That was too much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once he told us about this exemption our family was in high gear. I mean, it actually put a different type of positive attitude and energy in our household.
REID: While the exemption is an exciting opportunity for Dakota, it comes with a big question mark. Kelly Joe was given just months to live by her doctors and there are no assurances she will be there in April.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: God willing and my health prevailing, I will be there front center and stage watching my daughter tee it off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife is just amazing individual and I have no doubt in my mind that she'll be here for that event in April and long after that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to be with my mom, although I have until forever, but if that doesn't happen, I want to be with her as long as I can, every day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is definitely a dream come true, a dream that we could have never hoped to realize that has happened. And this is really a Cinderella story. It's been nothing short of a very sweet fairy tale.
REID: Candy Reid, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: What a remarkable story.
Coming up, celebrating Christmas on the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Just ahead, right here on CNN's LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, $1 billion, that is what last week's three-day transit strike cost New York City businesses. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says museums, restaurants and shops that typically would have been packed with people just before Christmas lost that much business.
Another $10-million a day went to police overtime and other strike-related costs. Transit workers are back on the job, but still without a new contract.
The world renowned Harlem Boys' Choir is getting the boot. The Boy's Choir is facing eviction after a long-standing financial problems and allegations that its founder ignored reports of sexual abuse. Mark Joyella, from CNN affiliate WNYW went to the choir's founder for reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARK JOYELLA, WNYW REPORTER (voice-over): Their sweet sound has sold CDs and wowed crowds for years, but this Christmas comes with an eviction notice for the legendary Boys' Choir of Harlem.
WALTER TURNBULL, BOYS CHOIR OF HARLEM: The Boys' Choir of Harlem is trying to get back on its feet and the Boys' Choir of Harlem this Christmas season is singing for homeless children, and then we're being told we're being kicked out at less than a month's notice.
JOYELLA (on camera): Is the city wrong?
TURNBULL: I think the city's wrong.
JOYELLA (voice-over): The City of New York has been the choir's landlord, in essence, since 1993. Housing the group and its staff at this public school, known as the Choir Academy of Harlem. But the city says the boys' choir hasn't lived up to its end of the deal.
Instructors failing to show up for classes and continuing questions about money problems and questionable staffing, all resulting, the city says, in order to the choir to clear out by January 31st.
TURNBULL: Oh, we'll find a home. We'll find a home. Surely there are people out here who realize that when 98 percent of your kids graduate high school and go on to college that there's some right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, after all the trouble they've had since Katrina, kids on the Gulf Coast were happy to discover that Santa Claus does disaster areas. The Lachardi (ph) girls, Alexandria and Abigail, you see them there, tore into presents on Christmas morning in their trailer outside New Orleans.
And here's the big guy himself, yep, that's Santa. He made the scene on Christmas even at Camp Premier, in Chalmette, Louisiana. Camp Premier is a tent city erected for the homeless.
How about taking a Christmas cruise? For some, that's a dream come true, but not for these folks. Susan Roesgen has the story from just outside New Orleans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Say Christmas on a cruise ship and some people think of the Bahamas, but this ship is in St. Bernard Parish, and the passengers are on anything but a vacation.
BECKY MUSCARELLO, PASSENGER: Come on, honey.
ROESGEN: This is home for Becky and Joey Muscarello and their little daughter, Jonah. Becky says they couldn't afford Christmas decorations for their cabin and it just didn't seem worth it. B. MUSCARELLO: It would be different if it was floating in the waters some where, and it was a cruise. But hey, this is better than not having anything at all.
JOEY MUSCARELLO, PASSENGER: Exactly.
B. MUSCARELLO: And they have people that don't have even that.
ROESGEN: FEMA pays the room and board for 946 passengers, but everyday the Muscarellos get off the ship to go to work on their real home; a 3,000 square-foot house ruined by the flood and an oil spill after the hurricane. Then it's back to their 8-by-12 foot cabin on a cruise to nowhere.
(on camera): Normally, this ship sails on the Atlantic, from Portland, Maine to Nova Scotia. But for the last three months it has been sitting right here, on the Mississippi, not moving anywhere.
CAPT. BENGT WIMAN, SCOTIA PRINCE: To start with I was quite frustrated, to just stay here on the river and doing nothing. But now after -- after about six weeks or so, we get to know a lot of people. It's more like a family now. We're all -- I mean, the crew, we get to know the crew, we got to know the St. Bernard people here. And now it's, I would say it's quite nice here now.
ROESGEN: The ship is supposed to stay at least until March. After that, nobody knows. For now it's a home for the homeless; those who hope to really be home for the holidays, next year. Susan Roesgen, CNN, Violet, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: The vast devastation from last year's tsunami was not limited to Indonesia it also struck Thailand and a beach community once famous for being something pretty close to heaven on earth. CNN's Aneesh Raman returns to Phuket for a first-hand look at a town recovering.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first wave hit Phuket around 9:00 a.m. Within minutes reports alerted the world, within hours we arrived.
(on camera): We got to Phuket on the first flight in. Most of the island was still without electricity and here at the airport this area was filled with hundreds of stranded people.
(voice-over): The first survivor we met was 26-year-old Julia Lebeau from Belgium.
JULIA LABEAU, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: The building was collapsing, so I had to jump to another building and the second wave came in and the third wave came in and people injured. I saw dead bodies floating. And so then at a moment we decided with a couple of people to just to run for it. RAMAN: She had narrowly escaped death, but many, we soon discovered, were not as lucky. Tens, then hundreds, then thousands, the number of dead kept rising.
There was the wall of the missing, some of the faces, to this day, still unaccounted for. Debris was everything, above ground and below the water.
Now, it is almost all gone. A year later there are few signs of what happened here. More of what is happening now. Wissut Kasayatanand, managed the Kamala Beach Hotel, where some of the most dramatic video was shot. In the days after the tsunami he sounded optimistic.
WISSUT KASAYATANAND, MANAGER, KAMALA BEACH HOTEL MANAGER: We should be able to prevail.
RAMAN: A year later his spirit seems vindicated as the tourists return. The hotel once littered with endless debris is back.
(on camera): What is it for you to see this? To see people coming back and the hotel back up and running?
KASAYATANAND: I'm so happy and really happy for all our staff, all the people on the beach and everything, that the lives can move on and get going again.
RAMAN: But not everywhere. The worse hit part of Thailand, was the coastal area of Punghan (ph). We got there by road three days after the tsunami hit, to find an area just starting to dig out.
(on camera): A year later the area where we stood in Punghan, is now being rebuilt, most of the debris has been cleared.
(voice-over): But some of it, this ship, still rests miles inland serving as a reminder of that traumatic morning. And the wounds here linger, as well; especially among the children of the tsunami. At this school in Punghan, everyone was affected. This 14- year-old, Punupau Numsong (ph), saw his whole family, parents and brother, killed.
"I will never forget what I have lost," he says. "I keep telling myself, no one in my family should have died in the tsunami."
The pain in southern Thailand remains very real. Survivors struggling to start over; some waiting even now for permanent shelter. But the clearest legacy of the tsunami here is not one of tragedy, but one of resilience and determination of people throughout this area overcoming the greatest of odds and living again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That was CNN's Aneesh Raman reporting. Be sure to join "Paula Zahn Now" for more of our special coverage of: "The Tsunami: A year later", that is tonight at 8 Eastern, only on CNN. LIVE FROM returns right after a quick break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: In show biz news today, Shrek is going solo. After 12 years of marriage it is the end of the road for actor Mike Myers and his wife, Robin Ruzan. Despite the split, a spokeswoman says they remain caring and committed friends. They do not have any children.
Well, for Hollywood couples, the most cherished token of their union isn't always the ring, it is the prenup. CNN's Randi Kaye investigated for "ANDERSON COOPER."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jessica Simpson's boots are walking all right. Right out the door. So the 25-year-old famous for her barely there Daisy Dukes has filed for divorce from husband Nick Lachey after just three years of marriage. That's not a shock to anybody who reads the tabs.
But what is surprising, in the celebrity world of love 'em, leave 'em and milk them dry, this newlywed who earned $30 million last year, didn't sign a prenup and celebrity attorney Scott Weston says she'll pay for that.
SCOTT WESTON, CELEBRITY ATTORNEY: She's going to get burned along the way. She's going to have to end up paying part of that money in property, probably future royalties on that money, and in addition, probably some spousal support on that money.
KAYE: It's no secret when celebrities split it can be a real kick in the assets. Roseanne and Tom Arnold didn't have a prenup, the divorce cost her half her fortune.
Some 50 percent to 70 percent of Hollywood celebs do sign prenuptial agreements. Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas had one. The Donald, prenup, prenup, prenup. Even Britney Spears reluctantly signed a prenup. But these days the celebrity prenup is about a lot more than protecting your cash.
WESTON: We end up with people that are basically setting up their road map for how -- what's important to them in the marriage. You commit adultery, it will cost you $1 million. This is a strong one, one that goes in a lot of celebrity agreements.
KAYE: Making a spouse pay to stray isn't the only quirky clause found in recent confidential celebrity prenups. Some of the most outrageous: the weight clause. One prenup stipulates if the wife's weight goes over 120, she loses 100 grand. Some mates mandate a drug clause. One prenup requires random drug tests.
There's even an in-laws clause. One husband is fined whenever he's rude to his wife's parents. Another forbids vacationing with the mother-in-law, ever. You're asking, will this really hold up in court?
WESTON: Likely not, but better to have it in, better to have a statement about what's important to you in these agreements.
KAYE: Celebrity lawyers say what it's really about is control. And all newlyweds, even Jess and Nick would benefit from letting their partner know where they stand up front.
JESSICA SIMPSON: That's stupid.
KAYE: Just in case they don't quite make it to until death do us part. Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All those clauses, my goodness. Fascinating and frightening.
Since we don't have the tape of the possum in the Christmas tree, oh, would have been good, the fact that it was a little dull. This is not dull, though. This is our video of the day.
A couple of pals just mixing it up. The story behind these adorable pictures right ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Take a dog and a cat and what do you get? Chaos, normally. But in one case, it is true love look at this. Robin Murdoch from CNN affiliate WBIR filed this story yesterday about a pooch and her new found friend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBIN MURDOCH, WBIR REPORTER (voice-over): On this day that's all about peace on earth, there's peace in this Blunt County barn yard.
EARL BEST, FARMER: Dogs and cattle don't mix.
MURDOCH (on camera): Except in this.
BEST: Yes. Come on, you want to go see Maggie? Yes. You want to see Maggie, don't you?
MURDOCH (voice-over): Meet perhaps the oddest couple in the area. Vegas, a boxer mix ...
BEST: Since I brought her in, the dog always, she just went crazy wanting to be with the calf.
MURDOCH: And her Black Angus buddy, Maggie.
BEST: I don't think it's crazy or not, but you can see for your own self.
MURDOCH: About a week ago, Maggie's mother abandoned her.
(on camera): Has Vegas ever had babies? BEST: No. She can't have any them, we had her spade.
MURDOCH: But that doesn't mean she can't adopt.
BEST: The calf is laying down, a lot of times she'll stand right over top of it or she will lay down on it, look like she's protecting it and keeping it warm.
MURDOCH: A motherly instinct that won't even let our cameraman get close.
BEST: That's all right, you aggravating her now, but she'll gets big enough, she'll stop that.
MURDOCH: Until then, they're a match made in heaven, a perfect pair this Christmas day.
BEST: I guess everything has to have some affection and the dog is giving the calf some affection.
MURDOCH: Robin Murdoch, 10 News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: So, cute.
Well, was it a good year? Was it a bad year? It depends on who you ask. We'll look back on the president's wins and losses of 2005 when LIVE FROM continues.
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