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American Morning

Two Families Tell Story of Sleeping on Street in New York City

Aired August 15, 2003 - 07:15   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: It's going to be an incredible morning, as we continue to bring our rolling coverage of America and Canada recovering from this blackout. We're going to bring you a lot of stories as well. And it's been an incredibly long night for folks here in Manhattan.
And we have a family and their new neighbor that they had met overnight -- the Fonstock (ph) family from Cincinnati and also Gene (ph) -- Gene (ph), how do you say your last name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stangle (ph).

KAGAN: Stangle (ph). Basically spent the night on the street. Tell us how it started. And this is Pat Batsi (ph) -- Pat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Batki (ph). Well, we just didn't have the hotel to get into. You know, there was no place -- they wouldn't let us in. After a certain amount of time, they evacuated us, and so we were just left to be on the street because there was no place else to go. And that was the say it was.

KAGAN: And this is your first trip to New York?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my second, actually. But we didn't have an experience like this the first time.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You say you slept on the street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

HEMMER: Where?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right over there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right over there on the corner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Underneath the street sign.

HEMMER: Did you have a pillow, did you have a cover? Did you have your backpack with you?

KAGAN: This is what they had.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, cardboard, and we bought six t-shirts. And you guys got t-shirts too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We bought a couple of t-shirts and put them on the boys and ourselves, and we had one pillow that -- well, actually two pillows. The boys had the pillows and we were outside.

HEMMER: Give us a bit of parameter here. What time was this last night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we got back to the hotel at 4:30, you know...

HEMMER: In the afternoon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... in the afternoon after going to the Rockefeller Center. And so, we got back at 4:30. And then from then on, we were around this area, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we've been outside ever since.

HEMMER: What do you remember from last night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being tired!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exhausted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KAGAN: What was the spirit on the street last night? Now, you two, you have never met -- these two families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

KAGAN: And so, people -- were people kind of friendly and helping each other out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so. It was very friendly and very helpful, and I think we had a lot of support. The police were here. They lit up the whole street, so we had, you know, that darkness we didn't have to worry about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think everybody was just kind of wondering what was going on. We had a lot of information that we didn't know about. We were just getting bits and pieces, and as we put it together, then we were able to do something and feel better about what we were doing. And we were just wondering if we were going to go back in the hotel any time soon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cement gets a little hard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KAGAN: Do you think the hotel is going to charge you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. We haven't been there yet to talk to them about it, but that is going to be a subject that we're going to talk about, yes. HEMMER: Listen, good luck to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

HEMMER: Did you ever put the t-shirts to use?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We slept on them.

KAGAN: Carissa (ph), how are you going to explain to your friends back in Cincinnati?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. It's certainly a story to tell.

HEMMER: Listen, thanks for sharing your story.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

KAGAN: Yes.

HEMMER: And there are millions of them on this very island.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, very much so.

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




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Aired August 15, 2003 - 07:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's going to be an incredible morning, as we continue to bring our rolling coverage of America and Canada recovering from this blackout. We're going to bring you a lot of stories as well. And it's been an incredibly long night for folks here in Manhattan.
And we have a family and their new neighbor that they had met overnight -- the Fonstock (ph) family from Cincinnati and also Gene (ph) -- Gene (ph), how do you say your last name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stangle (ph).

KAGAN: Stangle (ph). Basically spent the night on the street. Tell us how it started. And this is Pat Batsi (ph) -- Pat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Batki (ph). Well, we just didn't have the hotel to get into. You know, there was no place -- they wouldn't let us in. After a certain amount of time, they evacuated us, and so we were just left to be on the street because there was no place else to go. And that was the say it was.

KAGAN: And this is your first trip to New York?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my second, actually. But we didn't have an experience like this the first time.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: You say you slept on the street.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

HEMMER: Where?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right over there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right over there on the corner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Underneath the street sign.

HEMMER: Did you have a pillow, did you have a cover? Did you have your backpack with you?

KAGAN: This is what they had.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, cardboard, and we bought six t-shirts. And you guys got t-shirts too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We bought a couple of t-shirts and put them on the boys and ourselves, and we had one pillow that -- well, actually two pillows. The boys had the pillows and we were outside.

HEMMER: Give us a bit of parameter here. What time was this last night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we got back to the hotel at 4:30, you know...

HEMMER: In the afternoon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... in the afternoon after going to the Rockefeller Center. And so, we got back at 4:30. And then from then on, we were around this area, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we've been outside ever since.

HEMMER: What do you remember from last night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Being tired!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exhausted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KAGAN: What was the spirit on the street last night? Now, you two, you have never met -- these two families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

KAGAN: And so, people -- were people kind of friendly and helping each other out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so. It was very friendly and very helpful, and I think we had a lot of support. The police were here. They lit up the whole street, so we had, you know, that darkness we didn't have to worry about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think everybody was just kind of wondering what was going on. We had a lot of information that we didn't know about. We were just getting bits and pieces, and as we put it together, then we were able to do something and feel better about what we were doing. And we were just wondering if we were going to go back in the hotel any time soon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cement gets a little hard.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KAGAN: Do you think the hotel is going to charge you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. We haven't been there yet to talk to them about it, but that is going to be a subject that we're going to talk about, yes. HEMMER: Listen, good luck to you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

HEMMER: Did you ever put the t-shirts to use?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We slept on them.

KAGAN: Carissa (ph), how are you going to explain to your friends back in Cincinnati?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. It's certainly a story to tell.

HEMMER: Listen, thanks for sharing your story.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

KAGAN: Yes.

HEMMER: And there are millions of them on this very island.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, very much so.

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




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