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American Morning

Successful Resolution to Flap Over How to Honor Flag from WTC; Discussion with HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson

Aired February 07, 2002 - 08:10   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: On to the Olympics now, there has been a successful resolution to the flap over how to honor that well-traveled flag from the World Trade Center. The tattered flag has been flown over the World Series games, the Super Bowl, and now it will be at the winter Olympics beginning tomorrow in Salt Lake City.

After a lot of going back and forth, the International Olympic Committee yesterday decided the flag, which arrived in Utah yesterday, will be carried in at the opening ceremony by an honor guard of rescue workers and U.S. Olympic athletes, and raised alongside the Olympic flag. As you might know, the 2002 winter Olympics officially begin tomorrow with the traditional opening ceremonies, which the president will attend. And much like the athletes themselves, the host city has spent years preparing for this experience and it's ready.

Our Carol Lin will be on hand throughout the games covering the Olympics just for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The flags are flying, but the streets are so quiet, you would hardly know a world even was about to take place. But at this winter Olympics, it's what you don't see that matters.

MITT ROMNEY, PRESIDENT, SALT LAKE CITY OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: Over 200 cameras on roadways have been put up so we can see -- like up there, we can see what kind of traffic there is getting in and out of venues.

LIN: The president of Salt Lake City's Olympic Committee showed us ground zero of the unprecedented, unified security operation. Everything from traffic to bioterrorism threats will be handled by 20 government agencies from this room. What you see is carefully orchestrated.

Aside from an occasional Army Black Hawk or vehicle check, Salt Lake organizers want America focusing on tourism, not terrorism. The state is spending big bucks advertising to change Utah's image. Its isolation attracted the Mormons nearly 200 years ago. Today, 70 percent of the state doesn't drink, smoke or (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's illegal to serve more than one drink at a time. MAYOR ROCKY ANDERSON, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Yeah, I've been asked by journalists for months now the same questions. "What about your liquor laws?" It's like, you know, there's so much more going on in this community.

LIN: Salt Lake's mayor confirmed Olympic organizers had 1,300 places to buy liquor at the Olympic venues. The Utah tourism board says it can double the growth rate of tourism if the Olympics prove Utah is not that strange. Think powdered slopes, not polygamists.

Twenty-three year old Josh Sherman, a Mormon, was a nice surprise for us.

LIN (on camera): You don't drink.

JOSH SHERMAN: Don't drink.

LIN: You don't smoke.

SHERMAN: Don't smoke. I'm (ph) (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

LIN (voice-over): He's going to be a missionary for two years after he writes "The History of Snowboarding" for an alternative punk- rock magazine. Utah's image aside, Olympic organizers don't want any surprises.

ROMNEY: There are a lot of things that make me wake up very early in the morning.

LIN (on camera): That's funny, because your wife says you actually -- you don't sleep.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Mitt Romney has a staff of over 1,000 people and there are 18,000 volunteers at this year's winter Olympics. A lot of help and a lot of people keeping their fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly -- Paula.

ZAHN: Yeah, and they unfortunately -- they've got to deal with this unprecedented security. Tell us a little bit about the background checks these thousands of volunteers had to go through.

LIN: Oh, Paula, let me tell you. I'm going to show you my credential here, which I've got to carry with me anytime I even come into the press center. Now in order to get this, I had to give my social security and my date of birth. And normally, it's a cursory police check.

But this time, the FBI ran all the checks and they have the option of going deep into your personal history, including your credit history. And some three percent of all the people who were credentialed for this event -- that's about 900 people -- were rejected for security reasons. Including, I am told, a journalist from Egypt who had conflicting stories about who he was working for and why exactly he was coming. He was confusing the information, so they didn't give him a credential.

ZAHN: Carol, we're going to leave it there, but we very much look forward to hearing your reports throughout the Olympics. I have to say I'm just a tad jealous, being an Olympics nut. I love the Olympics. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) be there as many (UNINTELLIGIBLE) as I can.

LIN: Yeah. Well at least you got to run the torch.

ZAHN: Oh yeah, that was a great thrill of my life. Carol, we'll see you for many days to come. Thanks so much.

LIN: All right. Thanks, Paula.

ZAHN: Every Olympic athlete has a story, but perhaps none as dramatic as that of American snowboarder Chris Klug. Less than two years ago, Klug needed a life-saving liver transplant and thought he might die waiting for one. Well after three months, he received a new liver and a second chance at life. Now, Klug, who competed in Nagano, sees this as an opportunity to send a very powerful message about the desperate need for organ donors.

The competition in his event begins on February 14th, which just happens to be National Donor Day as well as Valentine's Day. And Chris Klug joins us now from Salt Lake City. And also joining us this morning from Washington is Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. Good morning. Welcome to both of you.

CHRIS KLUG, OLYMPIC SNOWBOARDER: Good morning, Paula.

TOMMY THOMPSON, HHS SECRETARY: Good morning.

ZAHN: So, Chris, how are you feeling? Are you ready for competition?

KLUG: Paula, I'm so excited. We're going to have a great couple of weeks. It's going to be a lot of fun.

ZAHN: Tell us a little about the training you've been going through.

KLUG: I've been training on the Olympic hill. I got a little home field advantage training on the hill last week. And I trained over in Sun Valley for a couple of days as well and at my home of Aspen. So I'm ready. You know I've been preparing this ever since coming up a little short in '98 in Nagano. So I'm very, very excited. I'm looking forward to it.

ZAHN: We're looking at pictures of you now absolutely defying gravity. And as I look at these, you know, it is really hard for any of us to understand how close you came to dying. And we mentioned that you sat on this donor waiting list for three months and then you actually received a letter or a notice that you could get a liver transplant from a 13-year-old boy who had been shot to death. And I wanted to share with our audience right now a small part of that letter that you wrote to the family of this young boy whose liver you received.

You wrote, "You have given me a second chance to pursue my dreams and enjoy life to its fullest. I am forever grateful and humbled by your decision and I am truly sorry for your loss." What is the most important message to get out there not only about your personal story, but about the other thousands of lives that have been saved by people donating organs?

KLUG: Well it's a very, very scary time being on that transplant waiting list. You know I can say first hand, it's not something I wish for anybody. You don't know if you're going to make it. The last thing I was thinking about is returning to the Olympics and winning gold medals. I was just hoping to -- to hopefully live and return to life as I know it. But it's a very scary time and there's more than 80,000 people in this country on the waiting list right now. Fifteen or 16 people die each day waiting on that list.

And ever since my transplant, it's a big, big goal of mine to get that word out about organ donation. It saves lives, it creates miracles, it allows people like myself to return to life as we know it and pursue our dreams. So I'm here today trying to -- trying to get that message across and tell people about February 14th, National Donor Day, and encourage them to share their decision and go on in to a Saturn retailer and get some more information about it and discuss it with their families.

ZAHN: And as you know, no one has been more involved in this issue than Secretary Thompson. And Mr. Secretary, you actually launched that program called The Gift of Life program, trying to encourage people to donate their organs. What kind of response have you gotten from the public, and do you still need more people to sign on?

THOMPSON: Oh there's no question about it. And Chris is such a tremendous example of what can happen and how important it is, Paula. And thank you so very much for showing that little program about organ donations. On February 14th, it's going to be an organ donor day. People should sign this little card, get involved. One person can have a difference in 50 different lives by giving.

And I tell people, you know, God doesn't want your organs in heaven, he wants your soul. And give people the gift of life and an opportunity to do things like Chris has been able to do -- a second chance. And there's no question that we have 22,000 individuals who will receive a transplant this year; 60 each day. But 15 people every day will die because of lack of an organ. And this country is too compassionate, too wonderful, too great to allow that to happen.

We need to be able to be givers and be able to sign up, give blood, give organs and give tissues, and give people like Chris Klug a second chance to do -- to reach their dreams. And that's what we're talking about here, Paula. And thank you so very much for allowing us to give this message to the American people.

ZAHN: Well it's our pleasure. It's a very important message to get out there. Mr. Secretary, I know you've got to run along right now. You've got people waiting to take you to another appearance there. Thank you for joining us this morning.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

ZAHN: Chris, I'm just going to ask you one final question. The secretary so passionately talked about the need for people to continue to sign on. What do you think holds people back? What are they afraid of?

KLUG: I don't know. I think a lot of people are on the fence and they're not sure about it. And that's -- you know that's where the Saturn National Donor Day is aimed at, is to hopefully get some people into these Saturn retailers to share their decision and talk about it. And hopefully, you know, we can encourage a few of those people to -- to make that decision and hopefully save some more lives. It's really -- it can allow miracles, and that's why I'm here today. The donors are the real heroes, and I'm so grateful for their decision.

ZAHN: Well we are rooting for you. You took sixth in Nagano and you're up again on September 14th -- September -- February 14th. That's hard to say very fast. I know you've got to run along as well. Chris Klug, again, thank you for your time.

KLUG: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: Secretary Thompson, still there, all right. Good luck to both of you. We're going to take a short break here. We'll be right back.

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