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Texas Twisters; Playground Assault?; President Bush Continues Sales Pitch of Medicare Prescription Drug Plan

Aired May 10, 2006 - 08:59   ET

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

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano, in Collin County, Texas, where last night tornadoes ripped through the area, destroying homes. And unfortunately, fatalities here. A live report is coming up.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, more than a hundred wildfires still burning all across Florida. People forced from their homes, sections of Interstate 95 shut down.

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jonathan Freed in St. Louis. Shocking allegations that an 8-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in her schoolyard by a dozen boys in the first and second grade.

That story coming up.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ed Henry, with the president in Orlando Florida. A final push to sell his Medicare drug plan with that deadline just five days away.

M. O'BRIEN: And coast to coast with a lot of soul. The self- described "Fat Man Walking" right on to our set. And sure, we'll ask him how his dogs are doing. But we also wonder if he's ready to pull a "Forrest Gump".

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. I'm Miles O'Brien. Soledad is making her way back to the studio. She'll be here in just a second.

We start this hour with a round of severe weather that is striking in the southern U.S. In Texas overnight, twisters tearing through two towns north of Dallas. At least thee people are dead. It happened in Collin County late last night.

Rob Marciano live now from the scene.

Rob, what's the situation there?

MARCIANO: Well, as sun comes up, Miles, the situation is that we're starting to see the damage in daylight. And that's always a sobering experience.

As you mentioned, tornadoes ripped through this area last night. Actually, not too many. Only a handful reported cross the country. And as you know, all it takes is one in any particular community. We are in Collin County, Texas, really between two towns, Anna and Westminster. As you mentioned, three people lost their lives, two elderly -- an elderly couple and one teenager. There were also 10 injuries, and some of them very serious. Of the 10, three airlifted out of here to area hospitals. So, still waiting to hear what sort of situations those victims are experiencing this morning.

At this point, six homes completely destroyed, or at least damaged, one of which is behind me. The gentleman sitting in that chair is the owner of this home. He was not here last night, thankfully. And at this point he doesn't wish to talk too much to the media, and who could blame him?

I mean, the home is -- the walls are completely torn down. You can see pretty much the forest coming from this direction in towards -- in towards the kitchen, which has been blown off the foundation and now on to the side yard there.

The sun is coming up. We did see a couple of showers. And I suppose a cold front has come through, Miles, and decidedly cooler this morning.

A 96-degree high yesterday, almost breaking a record. That, coupled with the humidity, that certainly has a triggering mechanism for the storms that rolled through last night. And I assume they're heading off to the east. But here in Collin County, Texas, the cleanup begins this morning.

Back to you.

M. O'BRIEN: Rob Marciano. I believe we have a bird's eye view of exactly where you're standing right now through the good graces of our affiliate, KDFW. That just gives you a whole other kind of perspective on what you were just talking about.

As you say, Rob, you know, you're never fully prepared for the full extent of damage that a tornado can cause.

MARCIANO: No. That's certainly the case. You know, when you look at the tallies, as unfortunately we have to report on them in the TV business, there certainly could have been a whole lot more in the way of fatalities.

You know, driving in here from Dallas this morning, as you know, a huge metropolitan area -- they don't doll the Metroplex for nothing -- seemingly, we get just past Plano and then through McKinney, which is probably one of the last, really, veteran communities of Dallas, and then all of a sudden you're into this rural community. So, if this community had hit five or 10 miles farther to the south, we would have been looking at a lot more destruction as far as residential homes are concerned, and likely a lot more loss of life.

So, in that capacity, I suppose we're a little bit lucky -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Rob Marciano in the suburbs north of Dallas, Texas. Thank you very much.

More severe weather is possible all across the South today. Our severe weather expert, Chad Myers, is looking at that for us.

Hello, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn to Florida now. A state of emergency there this morning because of wildfires. Here's the latest there: 103 fires burning right now, 25,000 acres scorched so far. The smoke from these fires is blamed for the deaths of four people, all of whom were killed in car accidents.

The fire stretches all across the state from near Tampa, across to Daytona Beach, and then south to Miami. Fifty of those fires are being closely watched by firefighters right now. And you add to all that, all that heavy smoke causing traffic nightmares. A 12-mile stretch of Interstate 95 closed. Parts of the heavily-traveled highway, though, are expected to open up any minute now -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A little girl is traumatized, 10 elementary boys suspended, one teacher fired, another on unpaid leave. All this in the wake of a startling accusation the girl was surrounded by the boys on the playground during recess and sexually assaulted. How could this possibly happen?

CNN's Jonathan Freed live outside the elementary school in St. Louis where they have those questions this morning -- Jonathan.

FREED: Good morning, Miles.

What we understand is that this happened on Friday afternoon, roughly around 1:00 in the afternoon after lunch during a recess period. And the big question here is, why didn't the adults who were on duty, supposed to be supervising the children at that time, see what was going on?

What we are told is that this happened in the schoolyard around the corner from where the adults happened to have been standing at the time, and that it took another -- a child who was in the schoolyard who saw what they described, what has been reported as a huddle of boys around this girl, saw that something was happening and went and got the adults. And that's how it came to everybody's attention.

Now, the girl is 8 years old. She is in the second grade, Miles. And the dozen boys who are alleged to be caught up in this, there are four 8-year-olds, seven 7-year-olds and one 6-year-old.

Let's listen to what the superintendent of schools here in St. Louis had to say about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUPT. GREG WILLIAMS, ST. LOUIS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Just the mere thought that this is in a young boy's mind at the age of 5 or 6 leads us to know that we have greater problems than we can deal with in any of our schools.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREED: Now, Miles, at this point we are being told that the girl in question is at least physically OK, but the issue, of course, is, how is she going to be doing emotionally -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, you know, listening to the superintendent there talking about, you know, greater problems than we can deal with there, I suspect a lot of parents would -- that would fall flat on them. Wouldn't they have the very just simple pragmatic question of, where were the adults? How could this possibly have happened?

FREED: That's exactly right. That is the outrage that we are sensing from the parents in this community here. Schoolyards being what they are, there are walls, there are oblique angles. But the questions are, how many adults were out there during recess, and why wasn't somebody able to see what was going on in every corner of the schoolyard -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: There you go. That's the question I have, and we're going put that question to the superintendent of the St. Louis public schools. He will be our guest very shortly from now, so stay with us -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: A final push by President Bush today. He's trying to get seniors on board with his Medicare plan before the deadline comes on Monday.

CNN White House Correspondent Ed Henry is traveling with the president in Orlando.

Hey, Ed. Good morning to you.

HENRY: Good morning, Soledad.

Day three of the president's tour here through Medicare country, so many seniors in Florida. He's trying to crank up his sales pitch of his Medicare prescription drug plan that has really come to symbolize some of the White House's woes at this point.

This program was supposed to really be a financial benefit for seniors and a political benefit for Republicans, but it's become so controversial, it's put the president on the defensive. Democrats charging the program is so confusing that next Monday's deadline, the May 15th deadline, should be extended to give seniors more time to sign up.

The president yesterday once again rejected that call for an extension, insisting to seniors at the Sun City Center, that he believes this program is working and will save them money, and they need to sign up now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People have got a little extra money in their pocket. The system is modernized and it costs -- it saves you money. And that's what we want. That sounds like it's too good to be true. If you haven't looked at the program, take a look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: The White House is confident that as the president continues his sales pitch, more seniors will sign up, and as the savings kick in that will be a boost to Republicans in the midterm elections. But the latest CNN poll suggests that's an uphill climb. It shows 47 percent of seniors say this plan is not working -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. And those are sort of bad numbers on that front.

Ed Henry for us this morning.

Ed, thanks.

Ahead this morning, the war in Iraq. We're going to talk to two veterans who have come out against the war, made a big sacrifice and protests. We'll tell you what they've done.

Also, the guy who calls himself "Fat Man Walking," he finishes his trek from California to New York. He's lost 110 pounds, gained a lot of perspective. We'll chat about that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: It is hard to put words to the emotions parents in St. Louis must be feeling this morning. This after a second grade girl was apparently encircled and sexually assaulted by at least a dozen boy, schoolmates on the playground during recess Friday.

How could this possibly happen? Where were the adults?

Creg Williams is the superintendent of St. Louis public schools. He joins us from outside the school.

Mr. Williams, we're glad to have you with us. How could this happen?

WILLIAMS: Thank you, and thank you for having us.

Listen, we don't know how it happened. We do know that adults were outside and should have been supervising children and doing a better job with supervising the children.

M. O'BRIEN: It's as simple as that?

WILLIAMS: Yes, it is. Adults are on the playground every day. Recess is a very common thing. And adults have the responsibility of walking around and supervising children.

And I had two adults outside with a couple of classes. They should have been walking around supervising the children. If you see that you have five, six children, or 10 children, or anyone that appears to be huddling, it's their responsibility to walk over and walk around and make sure that children are acting accordingly.

M. O'BRIEN: So, the layout of this playground made it difficult to see that this was happening? Or was it something even more negligent than that? Were the two teachers assigned to supervise this playground, were they not paying attention at all?

WILLIAMS: I believe that the teachers could have been paying much closer attention to what was happening on the playground. You know, I inspected the playground, walked around the playground. And, you know, while, of course, there's playground equipment on the play lot, I still, as an adult, believe that we could have seen and monitored the playground a whole lot better.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. So there's two teachers that are out there. One of them was -- you fired outright, correct?

WILLIAMS: That is correct.

M. O'BRIEN: And the other one is on leave without pay. Why the different punishment in each case?

WILLIAMS: Well, what we have to do is to do a thorough investigation on what has happened in this particular case. The teacher that was terminated outright was what we deem as a long-term substitute teacher, and I was able to terminate that person immediately. The other teacher is suspended, pending the final investigation of this particular case.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. So you don't want this teacher back, if you can avoid it. Right?

WILLIAMS: That is correct.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. How is this little girl doing? And how is her family doing?

WILLIAMS: The little girl physically is doing OK. It's yet to be determined what kind of emotional scars could -- the young lady could go through.

I spoke with the family. I've been in contact with the mother. The family is doing OK. We've offered counseling, we've sent counseling to the family, and we will continue to make sure that counseling is available for the family to ensure that this young lady will recover fully from what has occurred here at the school.

M. O'BRIEN: Counseling for the family. What about these boys that have been suspended for the rest of the year? What is going to become of them? What do you think is appropriate in this case?

WILLIAMS: You know, and that is -- that is a large question. Obviously, we've suspended the young man from this particular school. It is the end of the school year. We have a little over two weeks left.

The young men will obviously be reassigned next year to different schools across the city. However, the larger question is, you know, what transpires in our community that allows such a thing to be on the minds of young men who are 6 and 7 years old? And so, the larger question is, how do we address the needs that these young men at such a young age so that they can grow up and learn from what has occurred here, and so that they're not scarred either as well? And what kind of counseling, what kind of support do we provide for them, as well as their families?

M. O'BRIEN: And finally, too, there is this. You know, there were obviously a lot of other kids on that playground, and things got way out of hand before anybody went to the adults, who weren't paying attention at all. What's the message that you want to get out to the rest of the kids? They may not have been involved, but they didn't say anything either.

WILLIAMS: Well, absolutely. And in this case, the children are of the age of 5 and 6 years old. And obviously, some of them were probably confused and not realizing actually was what was going on, if the young men were surrounding the young lady, as has been indicated to us. And so, it's very difficult to be in the mind of a 5 or 6- year-old and wonder how and why this kind of thing were on their minds of young men at this age, and then, how other children would react to it.

And so it's very difficult to really speculate, but we're glad that a couple of young children knew what was going on and immediately went and told the adults what was going on, who then came to aid in this particular case.

M. O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, it breaks your heart on so many levels. Doesn't it?

WILLIAMS: Yes -- oh, absolutely. You know, I am distraught, and obviously the school district and the parents and the teachers as well, to hear that this kind of thing could happen with such young children. I mean, it's really devastating, and it really begs a larger question to the greater community.

You know, what are we doing? What are we allowing our children to be exposed to? And what are they seeing that really places this kind of thing on the minds of young children at this age?

M. O'BRIEN: St. Louis school superintendent Creg Williams.

Thank you for your time, sir.

WILLIAMS: Thank you, sir.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, we're going to meet a couple of military vets who have come out against the war in Iraq. They're making a sacrifice, they say, and a show of support. We'll tell you what they're doing.

Plus, the guy who calls himself "Fat Man Walking" has walked all the way from California to New York City to lose weight, to fight depression, and to gain control of his life. He's going to tell us all that he's learned on his pretty incredible journey just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: He is the self-proclaimed "Fat Man Walking". He also has called himself "Forrest Lump." Steve Vaught has crossed the country, finally, nearly 3,000 miles, on a mission to change his life. He arrived in Manhattan on Tuesday, and he's right here in our studio this morning.

Steve, nice to see you. Congratulations. How are you feeling this morning?

Thank you. I feel good.

S. O'BRIEN: Good?

STEVE VAUGHT, "FAT MAN WALKING": I feel very good.

S. O'BRIEN: Wiped out, feet hurt?

VAUGHT: Very wiped out. Feet hurt really a lot.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Sort of exhausted head to toe?

VAUGHT: I am, yes.

S. O'BRIEN: How was it to cross over the bridge and finally make it?

VAUGHT: It was pretty exciting. It was kind of funny.

You know, it started to rain a little bit. And the media were following me around and running into poles and tripping over one another. And I thought -- I go 3,000 miles and then I get a bunch of people hurt at the end.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, don't worry about the media. They always run into poles.

You began last year, as we all know because we've been following your story and telling your story. You weighed 410 pounds. Give me a little background as to why -- why you decided to take on a -- you know, a trek across the country.

VAUGHT: Well, for me, I had to figure out some way to conquer the problems that created the weight. I knew that it wasn't an issue of just losing the weight, because people do that all the time.

S. O'BRIEN: So it was more mental than sort of like, I'm going walk across the country and lose some weight? VAUGHT: Yes. It started out a little more basic, and exactly that. You know, I was thinking that if I walked across the country I'd lose weight and I'd be happy. And I learned along the way that you have to be happy first and then the weight just goes naturally as you start to, you know, not rely on food as comfort.

And that's what I needed to do. I needed to make a drastic change in my life, and that sometimes takes drastic steps.

S. O'BRIEN: You gained some weight toward the end. And I'm curious to know, because, of course, when you walk along the highway, what you really have as choices to eat, it's kind of junk food.

VAUGHT: It is. It's a lot of -- there's -- it's mostly junk food, in fact. Mostly fried, you know, battered, gravy. It's not...

S. O'BRIEN: It's good, but it's bad for you.

VAUGHT: It's good. Well, that's why they sell it, because people buy it. And -- but it's not that good for you.

But in the end, I sort of started to not even follow my own direction, and I got a little over zealous. And I was eating probably 80 percent protein, 20 percent carbohydrate, and I actually made myself kind of sick. So, on doctor's orders I had to switch up a little bit, and I put on about 10 or 12 pounds.

S. O'BRIEN: You wanted to quit a couple of times I read.

VAUGHT: Yesterday I wanted to quit a couple of times.

S. O'BRIEN: I mean, it really got -- really?

VAUGHT: You know, that's the thing about being out here, is that there's...

S. O'BRIEN: Yesterday? You're like this close.

VAUGHT: Every day. No, every day you wake up, and even if you're, you know, that close, you still say, oh, 10, 15 more miles? And that's -- but that's where the lesson is. The lesson is in overcoming the hardship, overcoming the adversity.

So, the point is, every day you want to quit, but you don't. You understand that you still have to go. So you feel sorry for yourself for a little bit, and then you say, OK, now I have to go.

S. O'BRIEN: I've got to ask you about some of that adversity, as we've been talking about. When you were 25 years old you were in a car accident.

VAUGHT: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: You took the life of two elderly pedestrians. It was an accident. You couldn't see them.

VAUGHT: No, I didn't see them.

S. O'BRIEN: And how much of that played a role in sort of exercising the demons, maybe, in this walk?

VAUGHT: You know, the -- when the accident occurred, the change was so gradual I didn't notice it for quite a while. But it actually changed my life completely, and it really -- it made me very depressed, and that makes your world close up. And I started to gain weight, and it became even smaller.

And by the time I got to the point where I was going to go on the walk, I was really -- you know, my outlook was very, very dim. And being on this walk, I've just learned so much and I've met so many great people and changed so much that it's just profoundly changed me, I think, for the rest of my life.

S. O'BRIEN: You've got two kids. They're 4 and 9.

VAUGHT: That's correct.

S. O'BRIEN: And a wife as well. I know you guys had a little bit of trouble along the way.

VAUGHT: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: And I think I read that you're filing -- filing for divorce.

VAUGHT: Right.

S. O'BRIEN: But you're still good friends.

VAUGHT: We are.

S. O'BRIEN: The family's not here?

VAUGHT: No. It was going to be too expensive to bring them out. We really wanted to, but, no, it just didn't work out.

S. O'BRIEN: New York City is such a rip-off. It's all expensive -- please. I could have told you that when you were back in Ohio or something.

VAUGHT: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Do you still get support from them? I mean...

VAUGHT: I do.

S. O'BRIEN: ... what do you think the lesson is for the kids and the family?

VAUGHT: Never give up. My daughter took a phrase that I told her. I don't even remember when I told her, but she was asking me about learning to fly. She wants to fly without the aid of an aircraft. S. O'BRIEN: God bless her.

VAUGHT: She wants to physically fly. And she told me that she didn't think it was impossible. And I told her nothing's impossible. It just hasn't been figured out yet. And that's the thing that she keeps reminding me, especially at the low points.

She's sort of become a bit of a coach. And, you know, the fact that she's so proud and she's so, you know, strongly behind me, it really helped me keep going.

S. O'BRIEN: That's cool. That's great.

VAUGHT: They've been very much a part of this. Even though April and I have had our troubles, we're still parents, and we love our kids. And we're still a family. So they've been a very big part of this.

S. O'BRIEN: I was told to ask you, are you going to walk back?

VAUGHT: No. I'm not even walking to the hotel. Are you kidding?

S. O'BRIEN: Maybe the guys will carry you back to the hotel.

VAUGHT: I'm good for walking for a while.

S. O'BRIEN: Steve Vaught is the self-proclaimed "Fat Man Walking".

Nice to see you. Congratulations...

VAUGHT: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: ... on your milestone. Good news.

VAUGHT: Thank you very much.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. No "Forrest Gump" for him. He's done.

All right, Steve. Good luck.

VAUGHT: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, "The Facts of Life," a reunion on DVD. We'll catch up with Joe and Blair. You fans are going to be excited to hear this. You could own the entire series on DVD.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: We're at the famous Grauman's Theater in Hollywood, where Microsoft is set to make their big announcement here at the video game convention.

Stay tuned. We're live coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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