Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Anniversary of the Madrid Train Bombings; Teens & Meth

Aired March 10, 2005 - 10:30   ET

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

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


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hard to believe but it was one year ago tomorrow that ten backpacks loaded with explosives detonated in an explosion that reverberated around the world. Nearly 200 people died in the Madrid train bombings, more than 1,500 were wounded. The attack, believed to have been carried out by Islamic extremists, prompted Spain to withdraw troops from Iraq.
Three weeks after the train bombing, police converged on the suspected hideout in a Madrid suburb. They closed in, and as they were doing that, the seven prime suspects blew themselves up along with their apartment building. That neighborhood and residents bear the scars today, as we see in this report from CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVA ALVARADO, SUSPECTS NEIGHBOR (through translator): This has crossed my mind many times. I had the terrorists living next door to my house and I didn't know it.

AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Eva Alvarado doesn't like to come back to her old neighborhood.

ALVARADO (through translator): To me, they were strange people who did not live like other neighbors.

GOODMAN: Eva thought the police may have been there that fateful April day for a drug bust. She had no idea they were hot on the trail of terrorists. After the Madrid commuter train bombings that killed 191 people, police feared more attacks. Three weeks later their investigation led them here, where they foiled an attack on the prestigious high speed train.

(on camera): The next day, a Saturday, April 3rd, the police turned up at this location in the Madrid southern's suburb of Legoness (ph).

(voice-over): They were looking for terrorists in a first floor apartment just down the hall from where Eva lived.

ALVARADO (through translator): They lived here and these were the two neighbors on either side of their apartment. And my apartment was on the same floor in the corner.

GOODMAN (on camera): Hours into this siege, an elite police unit made it right to the front door of that first floor apartment and put a charge to blow open the door. And right after that, there was an enormous explosion.

(voice-over): Seven suspects died in the suicide blast, all considered key figures in the train bombings. A police officer also was killed. The explosion left a gaping hole, but filled in some of the gaps for investigators. Evidence uncovered here led to other arrests in the train bombings. Small comfort for some.

ALVARADO (through translator): I don't think about the things that I lost. The goods, the books, the photos. I think about how my life unraveled.

GOODMAN: The structure was so heavily damaged, authorities decided to tear it down.

(on camera): The building that's going up now is essentially an exact copy of the one that was here before, but not all of the people who lived here want to move back in.

(voice-over): Eva says she's moving to a single family home.

ALVARADO (through translator): I will live more at ease knowing I don't have many neighbors nearby.

GOODMAN: Al Goodman, CNN, Legoness (ph), Spain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So on the anniversary of that bombing, as we were saying, in Madrid, there's a terrorism conference going on and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is delivering this major policy address at the terrorism summit. Annan says that U.N. member states need to come to terms on defining terrorism and then adopt a comprehensive treaty outlawing it. Also Annan says no task is more vital than denying terrorists the means to carry out a nuclear attack. About 20 heads of states or government are attending the anti-terror conference.

We move back to the U.S. Right now on Capitol Hill, live pictures for you. The Senate. And there's Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. The Senate Armed Services Committee holding a hearing on the rights of detainees and specifically how they're interrogated and held. A Navy vice admiral delivering his report, which found that top commanders did put intense pressures on interrogators. But they are not to blame, the report says, for the prisoner abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Our CNN "Security Watch" focuses today on the nation's airways. Is it any safer to fly these days? Some pilots say this are still gaping holes in security. About an hour ago the Coalition of Airline Pilots Association released its annual report card. Here's what they found. The government got good grades for improving baggage screening, securing cockpit doors and its air marshal program.

The TSA gets a big fat F in the area of employee and cargo screening, verifying the identity of crew members, self-defense training and this one especially troublesome, defending planes from shoulder-fired missiles. Coalition president John Safley says the Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004 hasn't actually made flying any safer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SAFLEY, COAL. OF AIRLINE PILOTS ASSN.: The key point we want to make today is the grades you see on the report card are the same grades we reported in the summer of 2003. In essence, our government has yet to fill the gaps that we as pilots see as we continue to fly the American public day in and day out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Homeland Security says money is the answer. It wants to raise airline passenger security fees from $5 to $8 one way. Lawmakers are skeptical and the passenger-strapped airlines are cold with that idea. We're keeping an eye on it, though. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Well, we're going to look at your car coming up next. Do you have stickers on your automobile? What do they say about you? Still to come, the story of bumper sticker road rage. Might make you think twice about putting them on your car.

And later, it's an unusual way to warn about the dangers of meth. Some teenagers take charge of the message.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we're following breaking news out of Iraq. This story coming out of Mosul. An attack on a funeral procession. Word that a suicide bomber blew himself up during this funeral procession Thursday. The procession for a professor at Mosul University. We're getting word through our CNN sources that there are several casualties and that is according to witnesses. So we'll continue to track that and get more news out of Iraq.

Also, a lot more news ahead after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Apparently politics and driving don't always mix in Tampa, Florida. Listen to this: a man allegedly angered by a woman's Bush/Cheney sticker chased down her car and then tried to cut her off. She described the whole incident to a 911 operator. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALLER: Look, he just pulled over next to me! Look, he's stopping the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) car! It's ridiculous, this man. Look, he's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) running. I mean, he's running after my car! Oh, my goodness. He just ran right into the middle of the street.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: Nathan Winkler is charged with aggravated stalking and road rage. He apparently tried to show the woman an anti-Bush sign. Winkler told police he was angry because the woman allegedly made an obscene gesture.

Can't we all just get along?

Let's take a look at other stories making news "Coast-to-Coast."

San Diego police are looking into the fumigation death of a 37- year-old woman. The woman was heard screaming for help after gas was pumped into her condominium building. A fumigation crew had put up tent and walked through the building to make sure it was empty.

Police in Philadelphia and New Jersey are asking for the public's help in finding Richard Patrone (ph) and Danielle Imboe (ph). They've been missing for several days. The two have been dating for about 10 months. They have children from previous marriages. The FBI has been brought in on the case. The couple were last seen leaving a Philadelphia bar on Saturday.

And a sting called the biggest seizure ever of methamphetamine in the Eastern U.S. Agents grabbing 174 pounds of crystal meth that would bring in about $1 million in cash. The raids took place yesterday in two suburban Atlanta residences.

Well, meth -- it is a menace to teens and growing challenge to authorities. Authorities in Oregon say the drug is starting to show up in middle school.

CNN's Kimberly Osias has a look at an innovative effort to warn students away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to lose weight fast and have all your hair and teeth fall out? If so, methamphetamine could be right for you.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The satirical, fast-paced public service announcements weren't created by pros, although some played supporting roles. They were dreamed up, written and produced by kids for kids.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: What teenager really wants to listen to an adult who is all dressed up in a business suit and is talking very sternly to them?

STUDENT FILMMAKER: A lot of times teenagers don't want to feel threatened. When it becomes an adult or an authoritative figure, then they immediately want to disagree with them. You have to stick with your own group. You can't dis on who you're with.

OSIAS: The key message is that methamphetamines kill, and that teens are at risk. In 2002, eight percent of high school students in this county admitted using meth, two times the national average. These filmmakers want to save their friends, taking a creative approach to get their attention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shooting meth has really improved my self- esteem.

OSIAS: Using humor as a myth-busting teaching tool.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: It's comedic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My teeth draw tons of attention.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: Even though we took a lighter tone, we really wanted to show these horrible effects.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get so much done in such little time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at all my scabs.

OSIAS: The goal -- to get the serious message of meth out there beyond the walls of Oregon's Newberg High School, located in bucolic Yamhill County, 25 miles from Portland, an unlikely place for drug dens and meth lab, but in Oregon the state shut down 400 just last year.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: Everything that's in meth you can get at your local hardware store.

OSIAS: Items found in some cold medications, paint thinners and kitty litter.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: Another thing we were really shooting for was, to get people's attention, we went for shock value. For instance, with the breakfast PSA, where the kid's, like, walking out there and puts down a blender. And you're thinking, oh, so it's just some kid making breakfast. What's all this about? Then you see, he starts pouring, like, gasoline and dropping batteries into the thing and grinding it up. That's when you're wondering, OK, so what's this about, because that's not something you see every day.

OSIAS: Lieutenant Ken Summers does see meth every day. He remembers when the drug emerged in the '80s. Now the problem is so pervasive, the county had to open a juvenile detention facility just to keep up. Although Yamhill's teens are now using less, the community still feels the ripple effect.

LT. KEN SUMMERS, YAMHILL COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: It's a primary cause now in identity thefts that we're having, financial crimes, burglaries, all of our property crimes, virtually; 90 percent of them are based on methamphetamine problem.

OSIAS: Even more terrifying, younger and younger children are trying meth.

CRAIG CAMPBELL, METHAMPHETAMINE TASK FORCE: We're seeing it as early as 8 to 12-year-olds. It's getting into the middle schools now. This is a second generation that we're seeing. It's kids' parents who have been cooking meth. They know the trade, they know the vernacular and have probably been affected by the drug their whole life. And now they are including their friends. That's the way meth is spread.

OSIAS: But Oregon is hoping these creative campaigns will work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I've met all kinds of interesting people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll be amazed at what meth can do for you.

OSIAS: By employing unlikely messengers.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: I think it is important to get people before they start.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meth is not for everyone. Symptoms may include paranoia, hallucinations, loss of sex appeal, skin irritations, loss of brain cells.

OSIAS: As far as those budding directors, copywriters and prop managers...

STUDENT FILMMAKER: It kind of made me feel proud.

OSIAS: ...they believe their message made the mark.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: The 30-second scene on TV made it worth all the months of work.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: Kind of a huge thing. It has become way more than any of us probably imagined it could be.

OSIAS: And is making a difference.

Kimberly Osias, CNN, Newberg, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Talk about making a difference.

We're going to take a step away from the bad news in just a moment. There is good news all around you, according to an author that I'll talk to coming up, who says, if there's moments in your life that seem to give you unexpected answers to choices that you face -- she calls it grace. She'll explain, coming up.

And later, he's out of the chair that he sat in for so long. What is next, as Dan Rather says good-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: In our "Your Spirit" segment today, we're going to talk about finding hidden messages in possible coincidences. Spiritual guidance in signs and symbols, angels in everyday people? Our next guest says a lot of people are searching for spirituality. They might find religion lacking, looking for something in addition to that.

Cheryl Richardson is the author of a new book. It's called "The Unmistakable Touch of Grace." And she calls those seekers of spirituality religious refugees.

Cheryl Richardson is my guest this morning. Great to have you here.

CHERYL RICHARDSON, AUTHOR, "UNMISTAKABLE TOUCH OF GRACE": Thank you, Daryn. It's nice to be here.

KAGAN: I've been devouring the book and talking about grace.

RICHARDSON: Thank you.

You say, the basic premise is that Grace, if we're open, touches each of us every day. What do you mean by "grace?"

RICHARDSON: Well, I define grace as a benevolent force of energy that guides and protects our lives, and it is available to each and every one of us, regardless of our religious orientation, or our spiritual beliefs. And you know, I would say that this benevolent energy comes from God, some people would call it a higher power, or the universe or spirit. But it's available to all of us. There's nothing we have to do -- we don't have to earn it. It's just always there. The question is, are you awake enough to see it?

KAGAN: It's about, I think, "The Premise of Your Book" about being open to it.

RICHARDSON: Yes.

KAGAN: And there's one passage -- we've made a graphic of this -- that I think kind of wraps up your whole book, if we can put that up there, where you ask people -- Cheryl, you wrote it, so you read it.

RICHARDSON: Yes -- "I am now open and receptive to the power of grace in my life. I ask to be shown clear examples of how I can face this challenge with courage, wisdom and strength." And that's a wonderful little statement or prayer that you can use when you're going through a challenging time.

If anything, this book, out of all of the ones that I've written, i've gotten so much mail from people who said, oh, my God, I didn't realize, I'm going through a difficult time, maybe I lost a job, or I'm going through a divorce, or I've lost a loved one, or maybe I just woke up one morning and said, you know what, I don't want to live like this anymore, and suddenly people are saying to me, I've been using this one statement and I cannot believe the evidence of grace that's come into my life. And I know it was there all along. It's just that so many of us sleepwalk through life because we're so busy that we don't see it.

KAGAN: And there's some people out there, they might be having a very tough time, some of the things that you've listed, divorce, death, perhaps looking for a job. Some people might just be having a bad day, and they're listening to you right now, and they're going Grace shmace, this lady, what's she talking about. What would you say to them? RICHARDSON: I would say to them, you know there are coincidences that have occurred in your life. A stranger shows up with a piece of advice that you need in just that moment, or you get some kind of a sign, a bumper sticker that's right in your face that gives you a message. And sometimes it's you know, the people, there are angels in our life who support us through difficult times. Stop calling those events coincidences and start seeing them for what they really are, evidence of how grace shapes our lives.

And when you do, if you could just even use that statement, the prayer that we put up on the screen, if you were to just use that alone, I guarantee you that probably within 24 hours, you'll start to see evidence of grace everywhere, and then I don't need to convince you. All you need to do is open your eyes, you'll see it.

KAGAN: You also yourself, your own journey, because you are very personal in this book, you weren't born Mother Teresa.

RICHARDSON: No and I'm still not.

KAGAN: Exactly. But you yourself about some years ago had to make a choice to live yourself and see your life differently.

RICHARDSON: Yes. This is my most personal book. I knew that I needed to write about my own awakening to grace, as well as include examples and stories from other people, because I knew that my story was to different than anyone else's. The details might be different, but there was a time in my life, in my mid-20s, when I was working 9 to 5, and coming home, and sitting in front of the TV and partying with my friends on the weekend, and one night in the middle of that partying, I had this odd experience, where I felt like I was removed from my life in a moment. And I had this sense of -- I was questioning myself.

Cheryl, what are you doing here? You're meant to do so much more with your life. Cut it out. Wake up and get on with it. And from that moment, honestly, from that moment my life began to unravel for quite some time. And then all of a sudden, it was as if all of these events started to fall into alignment. When I made a decision to invest in my own personal growth and my own spiritual growth, and to clean up my act and to get my life together, suddenly so many people have called me lucky over the years, but really it's just a choice to be more conscious, to live a more conscious life. And when we do, we're given those gifts.

KAGAN: It's a choice you talk about in your book. It's called "The Unmistakable Touch of Grace." Cheryl Richardson, thank you for taking the time to grace us about with your presence today.

RICHARDSON: Thank you.

KAGAN: And we're going to take a break. We have a lot more news ahead after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired March 10, 2005 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hard to believe but it was one year ago tomorrow that ten backpacks loaded with explosives detonated in an explosion that reverberated around the world. Nearly 200 people died in the Madrid train bombings, more than 1,500 were wounded. The attack, believed to have been carried out by Islamic extremists, prompted Spain to withdraw troops from Iraq.
Three weeks after the train bombing, police converged on the suspected hideout in a Madrid suburb. They closed in, and as they were doing that, the seven prime suspects blew themselves up along with their apartment building. That neighborhood and residents bear the scars today, as we see in this report from CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVA ALVARADO, SUSPECTS NEIGHBOR (through translator): This has crossed my mind many times. I had the terrorists living next door to my house and I didn't know it.

AL GOODMAN, CNN MADRID BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): Eva Alvarado doesn't like to come back to her old neighborhood.

ALVARADO (through translator): To me, they were strange people who did not live like other neighbors.

GOODMAN: Eva thought the police may have been there that fateful April day for a drug bust. She had no idea they were hot on the trail of terrorists. After the Madrid commuter train bombings that killed 191 people, police feared more attacks. Three weeks later their investigation led them here, where they foiled an attack on the prestigious high speed train.

(on camera): The next day, a Saturday, April 3rd, the police turned up at this location in the Madrid southern's suburb of Legoness (ph).

(voice-over): They were looking for terrorists in a first floor apartment just down the hall from where Eva lived.

ALVARADO (through translator): They lived here and these were the two neighbors on either side of their apartment. And my apartment was on the same floor in the corner.

GOODMAN (on camera): Hours into this siege, an elite police unit made it right to the front door of that first floor apartment and put a charge to blow open the door. And right after that, there was an enormous explosion.

(voice-over): Seven suspects died in the suicide blast, all considered key figures in the train bombings. A police officer also was killed. The explosion left a gaping hole, but filled in some of the gaps for investigators. Evidence uncovered here led to other arrests in the train bombings. Small comfort for some.

ALVARADO (through translator): I don't think about the things that I lost. The goods, the books, the photos. I think about how my life unraveled.

GOODMAN: The structure was so heavily damaged, authorities decided to tear it down.

(on camera): The building that's going up now is essentially an exact copy of the one that was here before, but not all of the people who lived here want to move back in.

(voice-over): Eva says she's moving to a single family home.

ALVARADO (through translator): I will live more at ease knowing I don't have many neighbors nearby.

GOODMAN: Al Goodman, CNN, Legoness (ph), Spain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: So on the anniversary of that bombing, as we were saying, in Madrid, there's a terrorism conference going on and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is delivering this major policy address at the terrorism summit. Annan says that U.N. member states need to come to terms on defining terrorism and then adopt a comprehensive treaty outlawing it. Also Annan says no task is more vital than denying terrorists the means to carry out a nuclear attack. About 20 heads of states or government are attending the anti-terror conference.

We move back to the U.S. Right now on Capitol Hill, live pictures for you. The Senate. And there's Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. The Senate Armed Services Committee holding a hearing on the rights of detainees and specifically how they're interrogated and held. A Navy vice admiral delivering his report, which found that top commanders did put intense pressures on interrogators. But they are not to blame, the report says, for the prisoner abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Our CNN "Security Watch" focuses today on the nation's airways. Is it any safer to fly these days? Some pilots say this are still gaping holes in security. About an hour ago the Coalition of Airline Pilots Association released its annual report card. Here's what they found. The government got good grades for improving baggage screening, securing cockpit doors and its air marshal program.

The TSA gets a big fat F in the area of employee and cargo screening, verifying the identity of crew members, self-defense training and this one especially troublesome, defending planes from shoulder-fired missiles. Coalition president John Safley says the Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004 hasn't actually made flying any safer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN SAFLEY, COAL. OF AIRLINE PILOTS ASSN.: The key point we want to make today is the grades you see on the report card are the same grades we reported in the summer of 2003. In essence, our government has yet to fill the gaps that we as pilots see as we continue to fly the American public day in and day out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Homeland Security says money is the answer. It wants to raise airline passenger security fees from $5 to $8 one way. Lawmakers are skeptical and the passenger-strapped airlines are cold with that idea. We're keeping an eye on it, though. Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

Well, we're going to look at your car coming up next. Do you have stickers on your automobile? What do they say about you? Still to come, the story of bumper sticker road rage. Might make you think twice about putting them on your car.

And later, it's an unusual way to warn about the dangers of meth. Some teenagers take charge of the message.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And we're following breaking news out of Iraq. This story coming out of Mosul. An attack on a funeral procession. Word that a suicide bomber blew himself up during this funeral procession Thursday. The procession for a professor at Mosul University. We're getting word through our CNN sources that there are several casualties and that is according to witnesses. So we'll continue to track that and get more news out of Iraq.

Also, a lot more news ahead after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: Apparently politics and driving don't always mix in Tampa, Florida. Listen to this: a man allegedly angered by a woman's Bush/Cheney sticker chased down her car and then tried to cut her off. She described the whole incident to a 911 operator. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALLER: Look, he just pulled over next to me! Look, he's stopping the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) car! It's ridiculous, this man. Look, he's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) running. I mean, he's running after my car! Oh, my goodness. He just ran right into the middle of the street.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: Nathan Winkler is charged with aggravated stalking and road rage. He apparently tried to show the woman an anti-Bush sign. Winkler told police he was angry because the woman allegedly made an obscene gesture.

Can't we all just get along?

Let's take a look at other stories making news "Coast-to-Coast."

San Diego police are looking into the fumigation death of a 37- year-old woman. The woman was heard screaming for help after gas was pumped into her condominium building. A fumigation crew had put up tent and walked through the building to make sure it was empty.

Police in Philadelphia and New Jersey are asking for the public's help in finding Richard Patrone (ph) and Danielle Imboe (ph). They've been missing for several days. The two have been dating for about 10 months. They have children from previous marriages. The FBI has been brought in on the case. The couple were last seen leaving a Philadelphia bar on Saturday.

And a sting called the biggest seizure ever of methamphetamine in the Eastern U.S. Agents grabbing 174 pounds of crystal meth that would bring in about $1 million in cash. The raids took place yesterday in two suburban Atlanta residences.

Well, meth -- it is a menace to teens and growing challenge to authorities. Authorities in Oregon say the drug is starting to show up in middle school.

CNN's Kimberly Osias has a look at an innovative effort to warn students away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want to lose weight fast and have all your hair and teeth fall out? If so, methamphetamine could be right for you.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The satirical, fast-paced public service announcements weren't created by pros, although some played supporting roles. They were dreamed up, written and produced by kids for kids.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: What teenager really wants to listen to an adult who is all dressed up in a business suit and is talking very sternly to them?

STUDENT FILMMAKER: A lot of times teenagers don't want to feel threatened. When it becomes an adult or an authoritative figure, then they immediately want to disagree with them. You have to stick with your own group. You can't dis on who you're with.

OSIAS: The key message is that methamphetamines kill, and that teens are at risk. In 2002, eight percent of high school students in this county admitted using meth, two times the national average. These filmmakers want to save their friends, taking a creative approach to get their attention.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shooting meth has really improved my self- esteem.

OSIAS: Using humor as a myth-busting teaching tool.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: It's comedic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My teeth draw tons of attention.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: Even though we took a lighter tone, we really wanted to show these horrible effects.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get so much done in such little time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at all my scabs.

OSIAS: The goal -- to get the serious message of meth out there beyond the walls of Oregon's Newberg High School, located in bucolic Yamhill County, 25 miles from Portland, an unlikely place for drug dens and meth lab, but in Oregon the state shut down 400 just last year.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: Everything that's in meth you can get at your local hardware store.

OSIAS: Items found in some cold medications, paint thinners and kitty litter.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: Another thing we were really shooting for was, to get people's attention, we went for shock value. For instance, with the breakfast PSA, where the kid's, like, walking out there and puts down a blender. And you're thinking, oh, so it's just some kid making breakfast. What's all this about? Then you see, he starts pouring, like, gasoline and dropping batteries into the thing and grinding it up. That's when you're wondering, OK, so what's this about, because that's not something you see every day.

OSIAS: Lieutenant Ken Summers does see meth every day. He remembers when the drug emerged in the '80s. Now the problem is so pervasive, the county had to open a juvenile detention facility just to keep up. Although Yamhill's teens are now using less, the community still feels the ripple effect.

LT. KEN SUMMERS, YAMHILL COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: It's a primary cause now in identity thefts that we're having, financial crimes, burglaries, all of our property crimes, virtually; 90 percent of them are based on methamphetamine problem.

OSIAS: Even more terrifying, younger and younger children are trying meth.

CRAIG CAMPBELL, METHAMPHETAMINE TASK FORCE: We're seeing it as early as 8 to 12-year-olds. It's getting into the middle schools now. This is a second generation that we're seeing. It's kids' parents who have been cooking meth. They know the trade, they know the vernacular and have probably been affected by the drug their whole life. And now they are including their friends. That's the way meth is spread.

OSIAS: But Oregon is hoping these creative campaigns will work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I've met all kinds of interesting people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll be amazed at what meth can do for you.

OSIAS: By employing unlikely messengers.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: I think it is important to get people before they start.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Meth is not for everyone. Symptoms may include paranoia, hallucinations, loss of sex appeal, skin irritations, loss of brain cells.

OSIAS: As far as those budding directors, copywriters and prop managers...

STUDENT FILMMAKER: It kind of made me feel proud.

OSIAS: ...they believe their message made the mark.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: The 30-second scene on TV made it worth all the months of work.

STUDENT FILMMAKER: Kind of a huge thing. It has become way more than any of us probably imagined it could be.

OSIAS: And is making a difference.

Kimberly Osias, CNN, Newberg, Oregon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Talk about making a difference.

We're going to take a step away from the bad news in just a moment. There is good news all around you, according to an author that I'll talk to coming up, who says, if there's moments in your life that seem to give you unexpected answers to choices that you face -- she calls it grace. She'll explain, coming up.

And later, he's out of the chair that he sat in for so long. What is next, as Dan Rather says good-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: In our "Your Spirit" segment today, we're going to talk about finding hidden messages in possible coincidences. Spiritual guidance in signs and symbols, angels in everyday people? Our next guest says a lot of people are searching for spirituality. They might find religion lacking, looking for something in addition to that.

Cheryl Richardson is the author of a new book. It's called "The Unmistakable Touch of Grace." And she calls those seekers of spirituality religious refugees.

Cheryl Richardson is my guest this morning. Great to have you here.

CHERYL RICHARDSON, AUTHOR, "UNMISTAKABLE TOUCH OF GRACE": Thank you, Daryn. It's nice to be here.

KAGAN: I've been devouring the book and talking about grace.

RICHARDSON: Thank you.

You say, the basic premise is that Grace, if we're open, touches each of us every day. What do you mean by "grace?"

RICHARDSON: Well, I define grace as a benevolent force of energy that guides and protects our lives, and it is available to each and every one of us, regardless of our religious orientation, or our spiritual beliefs. And you know, I would say that this benevolent energy comes from God, some people would call it a higher power, or the universe or spirit. But it's available to all of us. There's nothing we have to do -- we don't have to earn it. It's just always there. The question is, are you awake enough to see it?

KAGAN: It's about, I think, "The Premise of Your Book" about being open to it.

RICHARDSON: Yes.

KAGAN: And there's one passage -- we've made a graphic of this -- that I think kind of wraps up your whole book, if we can put that up there, where you ask people -- Cheryl, you wrote it, so you read it.

RICHARDSON: Yes -- "I am now open and receptive to the power of grace in my life. I ask to be shown clear examples of how I can face this challenge with courage, wisdom and strength." And that's a wonderful little statement or prayer that you can use when you're going through a challenging time.

If anything, this book, out of all of the ones that I've written, i've gotten so much mail from people who said, oh, my God, I didn't realize, I'm going through a difficult time, maybe I lost a job, or I'm going through a divorce, or I've lost a loved one, or maybe I just woke up one morning and said, you know what, I don't want to live like this anymore, and suddenly people are saying to me, I've been using this one statement and I cannot believe the evidence of grace that's come into my life. And I know it was there all along. It's just that so many of us sleepwalk through life because we're so busy that we don't see it.

KAGAN: And there's some people out there, they might be having a very tough time, some of the things that you've listed, divorce, death, perhaps looking for a job. Some people might just be having a bad day, and they're listening to you right now, and they're going Grace shmace, this lady, what's she talking about. What would you say to them? RICHARDSON: I would say to them, you know there are coincidences that have occurred in your life. A stranger shows up with a piece of advice that you need in just that moment, or you get some kind of a sign, a bumper sticker that's right in your face that gives you a message. And sometimes it's you know, the people, there are angels in our life who support us through difficult times. Stop calling those events coincidences and start seeing them for what they really are, evidence of how grace shapes our lives.

And when you do, if you could just even use that statement, the prayer that we put up on the screen, if you were to just use that alone, I guarantee you that probably within 24 hours, you'll start to see evidence of grace everywhere, and then I don't need to convince you. All you need to do is open your eyes, you'll see it.

KAGAN: You also yourself, your own journey, because you are very personal in this book, you weren't born Mother Teresa.

RICHARDSON: No and I'm still not.

KAGAN: Exactly. But you yourself about some years ago had to make a choice to live yourself and see your life differently.

RICHARDSON: Yes. This is my most personal book. I knew that I needed to write about my own awakening to grace, as well as include examples and stories from other people, because I knew that my story was to different than anyone else's. The details might be different, but there was a time in my life, in my mid-20s, when I was working 9 to 5, and coming home, and sitting in front of the TV and partying with my friends on the weekend, and one night in the middle of that partying, I had this odd experience, where I felt like I was removed from my life in a moment. And I had this sense of -- I was questioning myself.

Cheryl, what are you doing here? You're meant to do so much more with your life. Cut it out. Wake up and get on with it. And from that moment, honestly, from that moment my life began to unravel for quite some time. And then all of a sudden, it was as if all of these events started to fall into alignment. When I made a decision to invest in my own personal growth and my own spiritual growth, and to clean up my act and to get my life together, suddenly so many people have called me lucky over the years, but really it's just a choice to be more conscious, to live a more conscious life. And when we do, we're given those gifts.

KAGAN: It's a choice you talk about in your book. It's called "The Unmistakable Touch of Grace." Cheryl Richardson, thank you for taking the time to grace us about with your presence today.

RICHARDSON: Thank you.

KAGAN: And we're going to take a break. We have a lot more news ahead after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com