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Out in the Open
Furor Over Retreat Mining; Execution-Style Murders in Newark; New Pill Helps Beat the Heat
Aired August 07, 2007 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hey Suzanne, I want to show you something. Do you see that huge mountain back there? So far finding the six men inside of them is proving even harder than trying to find six needles in a giant haystack. This is a challenge. Tonight, we're bringing it OUT IN THE OPEN.
Tonight, when will they finally get them out? Those six trapped miners? Are they breathing?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm disappointed -- disappointed with our progress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: An update on the long, dangerous rescue.
I'll take you to one of the most dangerous cities in America. Who's behind a triple murder? Execution style. Is the city's own mayor afraid?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking behind you.
SANCHEZ: Those are not just escorts. Those are security details.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It rhymes with itch and these women are sick and tired of the label. Will hip-hop notice their outrage? Will anything change?
And a pill, a pill that can help you beat the heat. Huh? It's all OUT IN THE OPEN.
Hello, again, everybody. It is now 38 hours since the first alarm sounded -- 38 hours of agony, of not knowing whether six men trapped inside that Utah coal mine are alive or dead. Very best guess is that it is going to take three more days just to be able to get to them. But, tonight, rescuers were hoping a crude form of communication can be established even sooner. They're racing to try and set off explosives as odd as that may sound, that they hope the men will somehow hear and then respond to by tapping the mine's walls.
For the very latest on this, let's go CNN's Gary Tuchman. He's at the mine in central Utah following things for us. Catch us up, will you, Gary?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rick, hello to you. First of all, we haven't heard any of the explosions. We expect to hear them at anytime.
More than a day and a half has now gone by, absolutely no indication at all whatsoever about the fate of the six miners. At least 130 rescue workers are behind me right now. Some of them above in a helicopter, some of them in a side using huge drills, trying to get closer to the six miners.
They're about six football fields away from them, between 1,700 and 2,000 feet now. There hasn't been a sound from these gentlemen inside the mine right now.
That's not necessarily bad news. The fact is if you're 1700, 2,000 feet away from them and you have tons of rocks between the rescuers, between these men. They could scream and yell as long as they want, and you would just never hear anything.
Now this morning we talked to the owner of the mine who happens to own other mines in five states also well. He had a very interesting discussion with us. He went on for a while talking about his anger at so-called experts who have appeared on television. Also some reporters saying they've gotten the story wrong, details about how this happened wrong.
He says we should all tell the truth and the truth comes from him. I agree, we try to tell the truth, whether it all comes from had him or not, that remains to be seen. But the fact is, he started with that and then he gave us the nitty-gritty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MURRAY, MURRAY ENERGY GROUP: Progress has been too slow, too slow. It will take, ladies and gentlemen, three days if everything goes right to get to these miners. At that time we will know whether they are alive or dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: We talked with a former miner today who used to work in the same mine. He was in the same exact location where these miners are believed to be.
We heard reports that the miners would have enough oxygen and water to last a few days. He also tells us, this former miner, they would have enough food too. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE GARCIA, FORMER MINER: Everybody goes down there, they pack a big lunch. They got a big, big lunch box and they always pack extra sweets and, you know, extra food because sometimes we -- if one of the guys in the other crew don't show up, we can work extra hours, you know? And that's why we always pack a big lunch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Miner Mike Garcia believes the miners are still alive. He says the area where they are is a very safe part of the mine. Rick, back to you.
SANCHEZ: You know, it occurs to me, Gary, as I was listening to you, especially the beginning, that they were setting off explosions -- wouldn't you think that's the last thing you want to do down there?
TUCHMAN: Yes, that's why it is taking so long to do. They want to make sure when they set off the explosions that it's a safe thing to do. Once they do that, they're hoping to get some kind of signal from the six men if indeed they are alive.
SANCHEZ: Here is another question I have for you. Yesterday there was two conflicting statements about this. Was it an earthquake that caused this cave-in or was it the cave-in that mimicked an earthquake and had people thinking that's what had happened?
TUCHMAN: Well, that's one of the things the owner told us today. He tells us unequivocally it was an earthquake that caused this. Obviously he's not an expert in earthquakes. Those experts are telling us they're not sure yet. They think it might have been the cave-in that caused seismic activity. So we can't take his word for it just yet.
SANCHEZ: Gary Tuchman, as usual, doing a man's work out there. We thank you, Gary. Now, you, I, the mine president is impatient for news, progress from this mine rescue.
But what we're feeling really is nothing compared to the agony. Can you imagine the miners' family and the rescue crews are going through now? How are they holding up? We asked Ted Rowlands to check out this for us. Here is his story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIE JONES, MOTHER OF RESCUE WORKER: I mean, I'm a mom. You know? I want him safe. And this is what he does.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When she first heard that men were trapped, Julie Jones says she was told her 23- year-old son Elam was in the mine.
JONES: There has been a mine cave-in. Elam is up there.
ROWLANDS: It turned out Elam, who has worked in the Crandall Canyon mine for two years was fine and now is part of the team desperately working around the clock, trying to reach the six who are still trapped.
JONES: He says, mom, we're digging with our hands at one time. Just to help get those guys out. We're doing whatever we can to do to get the guys out.
ROWLANDS: While the desperate rescue operation goes on inside the mine, family members are gathered at a local school, going through what must be an excruciating wait to find out the fate of their loved one.
JONES: They don't say much. And we just nod and, you know, tap our hearts, because our prayers are with them.
ROWLANDS: The trapped miners are all described as family men, ranging in age between their 20s and late 40s. Three of the six are Mexican nationals.
SALVADOR JIMENEZ, MEXICAN CONSULATE: In Mexico, there is a great -- they are given great importance to this news. We have great sense of solidarity with our own people.
ROWLANDS: Everyone's prayer for all the miners is the same.
JONES: We want them home. We want them home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROWLANDS: And right now, the CEO of Murray Energy, Bob Murray is updating the families. They're all in this school behind me. He's giving them the latest on this search and rescue effort. Right now, though, all the news these families has been getting has been bad news. There was is a setback today. They were told it might be two to three days, Rick, before they find out whether their loved ones are alive or dead.
SANCHEZ: I can't even begin to imagine what they're going through. Ted Rowlands, thanks so much for that report.
The safety conditions in this particular coal mine have become a really important part of the story. Records from the federal government of Mining Safety and Health Administration, it's called MSHA for short by the way, they show that inspectors have cited the Crandall Canyon mine for 30 different violations this year.
The mine has also received at least 300 citations in the past three years -- 118 of those citations for violations that were serious enough to have caused deaths.
But mine president Bob Murray insists that his operation is safe and he still blames the cave-in on an earthquake, as you heard Gary Tuchman refer to just a little while ago. The government is saying something very different, though.
The "Associated Press" is quoting the Mine Safety and Health Administration which says the miners were using a technique called retreat mining. Simply put, that's when the pillars of coal inside a mine are pulled down once the area is mined out. Then the whole area collapses after everything has been scooped. It is abandoned.
Critics say that's dangerous but Murray emphatically says retreat mining "is not to blame for this apparent tragedy." In fact, he got pretty steamed up about this when he was asked about it today during his news conference. Here, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: I wish you would take the word retreat mining out of your vocabulary. Those were words invented by Davitt McAteer, Oppegard, who are lackeys for the United Mine Workers and officials at the United Mine Workers that would like to organize this coal mine.
You people don't understand that. I'm telling you that. That's a fact. Retreat mining had absolutely nothing to do with the disaster that happened here, nor was there any retreat mining happening at the time of the disaster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Let's do -- let's talk to some people who know a lot about this. Joining me now is mine safety right attorney Tony Oppegard. He's a vocal opponent of retreat mining, by the way.
Also with us is Larry Grayson. He's a former miner who's now a professor of energy and mineral engineering at Penn State University.
Larry, let me begin with you. Tell our viewers what retreat mining is and why it might be considered extremely dangerous.
LARRY GRAYSON, PROFESSOR: Well, after a checker board pattern is driven into the mine for a section or a panel we call it, it may be driven up on advance about a mile to sometimes as much as three miles. And then a decision is made when they come back, after the panel has been developed, to either take out the pillars or not.
Generally when we take out the pillars, we start on the side where the previous panel was mined out. And we start systemically mining from pillar to pillar to pillar in a row and then go back to the next row, pillar to pillar to pillar.
SANCHEZ: So the only thing holding up the earth is the pillars then, right? It seems to me that would be dangerous, right?
GRAYSON: Well, I will admit, I've done retreat mining myself. I was a section foreman with a crew. And we went through a number of panels together.
And it is not just simply supported by the pillars. Actually, when I was doing it, we had breaker posts. There was eight breaker posts and wing posts offset and then we had cribs at the last stump. Today they're using mobile roof supports equipment, hydraulic equipment. SANCHEZ: Let me ask you this, just kind of cutting to the chase, you said you were doing it at one time. Did you feel safe when you were down there?
GRAYSON: Yeah, we knew the hazard was higher because we are actually inducing falls. We had to keep absolutely vigilant as we were mining these pillars and making sure that we were aware of the groans and moans in the roof as it were occurring -- watching roof bolts to see if they were bending a little bit, looking for rock dust that's dropping and various other signals.
SANCHEZ: Sounds a little precarious. Tony, let me ask you, you heard Bob Murray, the president of the company, a little while ago. He said look, this kind of mining had nothing to do with this kind of accident. Do you buy it?
TONY OPPEGARD, MINE SAFETY RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, I don't know. We'll have to wait until the miners are either rescued or their bodies are recovered, whichever that may be and MSHA has time to do their complete investigation and then we'll find out.
It is premature for Mr. Murray at this point to insist that it was an earthquake that caused this roof collapse. And I must say, throughout the history of mining, it is very common for operators to claim a disaster was an act of God. And in fact most disasters are act of men. They're not acts of God.
SANCHEZ: When you say -- wait a minute. You say acts of men, do you mean the guys were down there working or do you mean their supervisors and their bosses, people like Mr. Murray who maybe didn't do everything they should have done to make them safe. Is that what you're saying?
OPPEGARD: Under the Federal Mine Safety Law, the operator is responsible for safety. And you have to realize that a non-union mine, miners are going to do what they're told to do.
And, you know, one problem we have with retreat mining, we have known historically when we have fatalities on pillar sections, we know for a fact that most miners are not adequately trained in the pillar plan and usually if there is there's roof fall deaths, the pillar plan is being violated.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you, and I want a one word answer from you because we got to go. Should retreat mining be outlawed? First, you, Tony.
OPPEGARD: Not necessarily.
SANCHEZ: No. Larry, you? You think it should be outlawed?
GRAYSON: I think it is a very remote chance that it caused this incident and it should not be outlawed. If it is done safely, it is fine.
SANCHEZ: Tony Oppegard and Larry Grayson, my thanks to both of you for being with us and giving us some insight into something a lot of us don't truly understand. We'll have you back.
Earlier today I visited a city where three kids were just killed and killed execution style. The mayor himself gets death threats. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Are you afraid to walk some of streets of this town?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all. That's the thing that frustrates me is the national view of Newark has been one of stereotype.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: So what is the real story? Stay with us and we're going to walk the streets of Newark, New Jersey, with you.
Well the heat, it can kill you this time of the year. But there's a new pill out there that can also keep you alive. Hard to swallow? Open wide.
Also, the Democratic Party heavyweights, ready to rumble. We'll bring it to you as well, and analysis. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And I welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Tonight, the crime that really stunned an entire community. A city, in fact, in many a whole country.
Four college kids gunned down in a schoolyard in a middle class part of Newark, New Jersey, over the weekend. This was staged, really like an execution. But why? I went to Newark this morning to try to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): They're still gathering, hurting, shaking their heads and wondering how something so ghastly could happen here. In Newark, where murders are, sadly, all too common, this one stands out.
Four friends, college students, Newark natives, by all accounts good kids, hanging out in a schoolyard on a Saturday night. They were killed, but we don't know for sure who did it or why.
Police are telling us that three of the victims were killed right here execution style against this wall. As a matter of fact, some of the medical examiners gloves are still there on the wall.
Another victim was found over there where those balloons are, for a makeshift memorial that has been set up -- 18-year-old Terrance Aeriel, 20-year-old Iofemi Hightower and 20-year-old Deshawn Harvey, the three of them died here.
Natasha Aeriel was shot, but somehow survived. Their families are heartbroken.
JAMES HARVEY, FATHER OF VICTIM: They are out here hurting innocent kids, innocent people are dying needlessly, unnecessarily and for what? For what? This do have to stop.
SANCHEZ: Natasha Aeriel is in stable condition at a Newark hospital as a key witness. She's under police guard.
Investigators are checking to see if the crime was caught on any nearby surveillance cameras. They're listening to 911 tapes and they're looking at text messages received by the victims just before the attacks. One warning, "let's get out of here."
PAULA DOW, PROSECUTOR: Right now, it looks like a horrible, horrible robbery that went terribly wrong but we're not ruling out gangs or any other theory of this case.
SANCHEZ: But for some of the people of this crime-ridden city, this was the final straw.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are sick of him. We want him out!
SANCHEZ: There have been 60 homicides in Newark so far this year and a lot of people here blame Mayor Cory Booker for not doing enough to stop the crime.
MAYOR CORY BOOKER (D), NEWARK: This is not a time to play politics. This is not a time to divide our city. This is not a time to point out or to work on fracturing us as a community. This is a time that all Newarkers must pull together.
SANCHEZ: This afternoon I met with some of the guys from the West Side High School football team. Three of the victims graduated from here. And the players came by the crime scene to pay their respects. How many friends have you lost? How many?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Through the years? Over 10 friends.
SANCHEZ: Over 10 friends?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
SANCHEZ: That have been shot and killed? Here? In the Newark area? Wow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: While I was working that story, I was struck by the plight of Mayor Cory Booker, what he's up against, why he does it. At 6'4", he's a standout football player, has a doctorate degree and says he knows he can be making a lot more money doing something else and doing what he's doing, he says, is because of all the murders he's getting now is that he's getting so much heat, so much criticism.
So it's is a tough call for him. Here is our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: So something like this news has got to be a heart breaker for you?
BOOKER: It is a heart breaker for a lot of reasons, but most importantly it's a heartbreaker because the children that were killed, the young people that were killed were really the pride of our city. These are people that had incredible lives ahead of them, were on their way or in college.
SANCHEZ: But you know what it says? It says -- and I know it is a horrible message, it's the last thing you need in Newark is to have a message out there that says this city is not safe for good kids.
BOOKER: That's a problem. The exception -- this is an exception, unfortunately, to the reality. Is that though the murders were coming down, there is people still being murdered were usually involved in the narcotics trade.
SANCHEZ: Bad guys knocking each other off.
BOOKER: Right, right.
SANCHEZ: Are you afraid to walk the streets of this town?
BOOKER: Not at all. That's the thing that frustrates me is the national view of Newark has always been one of stereotype.
SANCHEZ: Here's the problem. It's one thing to hire a bunch of cops and go after the bad guys. It is another thing to stop the bad guys from becoming bad guys. What are you doing about that?
BOOKER: Well that's the biggest thing we're doing right now, which is investing in our young people f you look around the city from redoing all the recreation centers, investing in our parks, you're seeing neighborhood groups and community groups starting mentoring programs, block associations. We're doing more things to get our kids into jobs. We're doing more things to get our kids into college.
SANCHEZ: So then why does something like this happen? Three guys killed at gunpoint, execution style. Good kids, apparently. They're going to college and you're wondering who is out there doing this and what can you do to just try and pick the real bad guys off? Put them in jail and don't let them get out.
BOOKER: Right, I think that's a tough question that everybody has been asking. Why would this bad thing happen to such good, good kids? And it is something that really has knocked all of us to a stop.
SANCHEZ: If this was done by the bloods or the Cripps, what is the message to them that you would send right now on national television?
BOOKER: Again, we are going hold everyone accountable. We're going to find the people who are responsible for this. We're going to stop this crime and this violence in our city.
SANCHEZ: Is this going to make you change anything?
BOOKER: You adapt strategies, you always do. If anything that I'm seeing -- and this is the great thing about this city -- is that people now are pulling together in ways they never have. My BlackBerry is exploding with positive energy of people saying what can I do? What can I do?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And unfortunately for Mayor Booker, there is also a whole lot of negative energy coming his way because of this incident and others like it in the past.
I asked him about reports that some gang members actually want to assassinate him. The mayor told me, doesn't concern him with that. But then he did, though, tell me that he has a couple of bodyguards -- some tough looking guys who were standing behind him while we were having that conversation.
Well, changing subjects, is it hot enough for you? There is a new pill that can help you stay alive when the mercury starts to climb. But it isn't like any pill you've ever taken. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inside that, you have a quartz crystal, which is probably for the pill, that's the main thing that makes it tick.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This is not new age. It is high tech medicine. We have got to really see it to believe it.
Also, it is Clinton versus Obama versus Edwards versus all the other guys. Don't forget Richardson, he would say. We're going to go live for tonight's Democratic slugfest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Like I have to tell you this, right, it is just outrageously hot in half the country this week. Look at this, 20 cities -- 20 are under heat warnings, watches or advisories today.
No relief from the stifling heat and brutal humidity is in the forecast for at least a couple of days, we're told. In fact, temperatures were pushing 100 from the Midwest to the East Coast. In St. Louis, it hit 100 today.
That's where CNN's Keith Oppenheim is tonight, to show us a new high-tech tool that can beat the heat. Tell me all about it, Keith.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I will, Rick. First of all, you're right. The heat here in St. Louis is miserable. I have my little portable thermometer, just below 100 here in the early evening.
And St. Louis really is an intense example of what is happening throughout a large part of the country right now. It is intense heat with a heat index of more like 110, making it a very vulnerable time for the elderly and the needy who don't always have good access to air conditioning, which leads us to a different group of people who are vulnerable, football players.
That's right, football players. You might not know this, but since 1995, there have been 31 football players who died from heat stroke in the U.S. during summer training. But now science has something that can really help.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Turning the corner, to the goal line, touchdown, Texas.
OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The University of Texas Longhorns are one of the nation's top football programs. And senior Drew Kelson is one of their top players, a defensive back with lightning fast feet.
DREW KELSON, COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER: Have to come out every day and work to get better and better.
OPPENHEIM: Drew is also one of a few Longhorns who have been diagnosed as having a tendency to overheat.
KELSON: I'm just a heavy sweater and I lose a lot of fluid when I'm running.
KENNY BOYD, ATHLETIC TRAINER: There you go, down the hatch.
OPPENHEIM: So before every workout, team athletic trainer Kenny Boyd gives Drew what is called the core temp ingestible pill, a capsule filled with batteries and more.
BOYD: Inside that you have a quartz crystal, which is probably, for the pill, that's the main thing that makes it tick.
OPPENHEIM: Four hours after the pill passes through the stomach, it transmits data to an electronic recorder and gives Boyd a precise readout of Drew's internal body temperature. For Drew it is a very big deal. Just 21-years-old, he's known three football players who died.
In each case, overheating was a factor. One a friend from high school.
KELSON: He died on the field. They tried to bring him back on the ambulance, on the way to the emergency room, but unfortunately they weren't able to.
OPPENHEIM: The University of Texas is one of a handful of college and pro teams now using the pill. Pre-screening players who tend to heat fast, and pulling them aside to cool down when they get too hot. The awareness stems from tragedy.
In 2001, Korey Stringer, a 335-pound offensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings died from heat stroke during a summer practice.
BOYD: You know, even more recent deaths that have occurred throughout the collegiate and professional community have really heightened our awareness.
OPPENHEIM: What they have learned is that athletes' responses to rising internal body temperature can vary. I wanted to see for myself. Wow. That's pretty big. I took the pill and about four hours later, had my body temperature checked.
BOYD: Right now, you're reading at 99.08.
OPPENHEIM: Then went out on a track for a four-mile run.
BOYD: Hey, Keith, got a good pace going.
OPPENHEIM: Yeah, I'm pushing it a little harder, coach. How am I doing?
BOYD: Let's see where you're at.
OPPENHEIM: OK. The ingestible pill says 100.77. That's a little more than a tenth increase from the last lap.
BOYD: I actually do feel pretty hot. It turns out I have a fairly good sense of my internal temperature.
But that's not the case for Texas Longhorns offensive linemen Tony Hills. At 6'5" and 305 pounds, Tony heats up faster than most, in part because of a genetic predisposition which affects his internal temperature.
BOYD: You're getting close, Tony, we're just going to keep watching you, OK?
OPPENHEIM: In this workout, Tony's body temperature goes over 103 degrees. Kenny Boyd pulls him aside to cool down and drink water.
TONY HILLS, COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYER: When you're so focused on one thing, you know, you pretty much tune everything out.
OPPENHEIM: The problem comes when players don't know they're getting dangerously hot.
DR ANDREA PANA, TEAM PHYSICIAN: Some people will exercise, their temperatures will go up and then they'll suddenly collapse at a certain temperature and not exhibit symptoms before the collapse.
OPPENHEIM: On this team, no one claims a temperature pill is the miracle that will prevent heat stroke. But no one doubts this high tech way to watch high body temperatures could save a player's life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OPPENHEIM: Rick, there are about 25 teams in the college ranks and in the pros that are currently using the ingestible pill on a select group of players. But, you know, cost is really a factor here because each one of those pills costs about 30 bucks, so that's why we're seeing this more at the college and pro level and not quite so much at the high school level yet until perhaps the price goes down.
SANCHEZ: Interesting how things change. You know, when I played football, they gave us salt tablets to help us retain fluid. I guess that was a lower technology. Glad to see things have improved somewhat. Keith Oppenheim, thanks so much. We appreciate that story.
Chicago Soldier Field, speaking of football, is famous for one thing. Let's see if I can get this right -- Da Bears. But tonight it's da Dems and da union and I guess the presidential campaign. We've got a live update on this one for you. Stay with us.
And then later, rage over rap's and hip-hop's treatment of women. Meet the women behind today's coast to coast protests.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez. If you haven't seen our top video pick of the day, you have to watch this. We're begin with this video out of Minneapolis. You haven't seen this yet because it was people getting into the bridge, not on the bridge. They're watching what is going on. See that guy right there where I just put that "X?" He's turning around. This guy, you're looking at him right there where I put that other "X" is trying to get out of his car. This guy is confused, doesn't know what to do. They've just seen the bridge collapse in front of them. Now they're making decisions. A lot of them are turning their cars around and trying to get out of there.
Video No. 2, this is courtroom rage at its worst. It is a man who lunges on to a suspect who tries to choke this defendant who just pleaded guilty to the murder of his son. So, you can imagine how outraged he is. Now, watch the rage on his face, right there, stop it if you would, Willie? Can you blame -- that's the rage that he's showing, how angry he is because of this man who just killed his son. And you can almost say, who's to blame him? Authorities are telling us they're probably not even going charge him for this outburst.
Let's go now to video No. 3. This is in North Carolina, this is surveillance video, big guy, trying to hold up a convenience store and it takes the littlest person in the world, that is her, 7-years-old, see her right there? See her right there, she's jumping over the counter, she goes after him, she is the daughter of the cashier who is working there at the convenience store and she's really upset about what he's doing so she goes after him.
Now, finally, video No. 4, let's show you this. Goes on for a long, long way. Lava from the Kilauea Volcano which has been erupting since last month. It's a mile-long lava flow and it's so impressive to look at. Something you'd think you'd see more on national geographic than CNN. We thought it was impressive we made it one of our pics of the day. And there you have it.
And now let's go to the presidential race. Some of the eight Democratic candidates are wrapping up forum in Chicago. It was their chance to show off organized labor this time. The event at Chicago's Soldier Field was sponsored by the AFL-CIO.
Senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley who looks nothing like Mr. Olbermann, is joining us now in Chicago to bring us up to date on what is going on.
Well, I guess what was -- given the last polls I look at, I would think it would be a whole lot of going after Hillary, right?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There was a lot of it. You're right, 22 points ahead, that definitely makes you a target with certainly No. 2 and No. 3, which was the case tonight. Let me set up one of the attacks which came from John Edwards. And have you take a look at this "Fortune" magazine cover.
Hillary Clinton, earlier this summer, appearing on the cover of "Fortune" magazine, under a title that said "Business Loves Hillary." That sets up one of John Edwards' assaults tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I want everyone here to hear my voice on this. The one thing you can count on is you will never see a picture of me on the front of "Fortune" magazine saying I am the candidate that big corporate America is betting on. That will never happen. That's one thing you can take to the bank.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Now, one of the other things about having a 22-point lead is you don't want to engage in this sort of thing. You don't want to give your opponent the platform. Hillary Clinton came back and said, listen, I don't want to fight with Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want the Democrats to win. And I want a united Democratic Party that will stand against the Republicans and I will say that for 15 years, I have stood up against the right-wing machine and I've come out stronger. So, if you want a winner who knows how to take them on, I'm your girl.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: So, there in those two sound bites, Rick, you the dynamic going on here. John Edwards, No. 3, looking to put some chinks into the armor of Hillary Clinton, who's 22 points ahead. But I should add that while she wouldn't take him on, his campaign was quick to put out a notice of a one-time that John Edwards went in 2002 and talked to the Fortune Global Forum, which of course, was full of business leaders. SANCHEZ: Well, you know what was interesting, it was such an interesting forum because it was almost like outdoors. I know it was the dome and everything, but there were so many people there, it was like a big roof. The candidates sounded like they were almost screaming at times and for Hillary, it exacerbated because some people say she has that kind of delivery. Was she affected by attacks? Was she affected by the environment? How is this impacting her?
CROWLEY: I mean, I think all of the candidates were impacted by the environment. You know, you have to sort of -- there were somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 people there, so it's not like a debate and you this sense, it was much more like a rally. So, Hillary Clinton, obviously, you know, would like to do that, you know, I think all of them would love to have had, you know, sort of a quieter forum.
Nonetheless, they really could get the crowd going and in some ways that makes the debate pretty interesting.
SANCHEZ: Looks like a good crowd for Kucinich for some reason. Right? Was that the union thing or the big crowd thing?
CROWLEY: It was the Union thing. I mean, he's -- of all of the them, he said get rid of NAFTA, get rid of our World Trade Organization membership. And those -- you know, that's music to the ears of big labor. The others were more measured saying we need to correct and amend some things in NAFTA. Obviously unions believe that all of their jobs have been soaked up by free trade agreements.
SANCHEZ: Candy Crowley, always a pleasure, we thank you.
Something pretty unusual is going on outside music stores, today. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CHANTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Now, these women are outraged by the names that they're called by rappers and hip-hop artists. They're tired of it. You know what I'm talking about. Next, the women who organized today's Day of Outrage.
And then later, you recognize this guy? He's no ordinary tourist, he's the president of France. So, what's he doing in New Hampshire? Running for something? We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back to our New York studios. I'm Rick Sanchez. One of the issues this program has been bringing out in the open this year is the degrading treatment of women in hip-hop music. Today the Reverend Al Sharpton led a nationwide protest over this. He called it a national day of outrage. Sharpton's National Action Network staged demonstrations in front of music stores here and New York and 19 other cities including Detroit and Chicago. And I can tell you, first person, it affected traffic, here.
He's demanding that the music industry stop using insulting words in their recordings. This is all part of what Sharpton calls his "Decency Initiative." Well, joining me now is the Decency Initiative's national director, Tamika Mallory.
Thanks so much for being with us.
TAMIKA MALLORY, NATL ACTION NETWORK'S DECENCY INITIATIVE: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Does it make you crazy you hear those words, the "WH" word, the "B" word, the "N" word used casually?
MALLORY: Right. Well, I mean, it hurts us as a community and it definitely hurts us as women, but more importantly we are dealing with the fact that what hurts us more is the fact you do not hear these word or racial slurs about other races in the music that is prevalent in their communities. And so what we know is that there is somewhere along the line, these words are being passed through filtering systems, lyric committees, so that our communities and women are denigrated and disrespected.
SANCHEZ: But, you hear the argument that it is part of the culture. We put it in our music because that's what people are saying on streets. And we're just portraying, mimicking, we're artists. Does that bother you?
MALLORY: Well, I don't believe that that's always true. I believe some element of that is true. There are a lot of words on the streets that people hear and they're not talking about that. These companies, the record companies, they only promote and put their marketing and dollars and their money behind music that is denigrating to African-Americans.
SANCHEZ: So, that's interesting. You state marketing companies, so you don't think it is the artists who are doing it, you think those that should be held responsible are the people behind the artists?
MALLORY: Yes, definitely.
SANCHEZ: Who choose their music and market their music.
MALLORY: That's right, the record companies. That's the focus of our...
SANCHEZ: Like who, name some names for us.
MALLORY: I mean, we have Sony, we have Universal there are only three, you know, in the United States that are major record companies and they basically put out the music that we hear. Hip-hop music is under these record labels.
SANCHEZ: You know what is interesting about this. You hear a lot of people get angry when non-African-Americans use those words. But it is confusing for non-African-Americans to then hear people using those words against each other.
MALLORY: Right.
SANCHEZ: Can you clear that up for people out there who are listening to this program and may come away confused?
MALLORY: I think that you're absolutely right that we do use the words, some people in our community uses certain words, but that's not the point. We're not telling people what they should or should not say, while they're having their private conversations.
SANCHEZ: Would that not be a very important part of the argument? How do you expect people to respect you if you don't respect yourself?
MALLORY: No, I don't think that, because there are other races that don't have much respect for themselves. They have issues of respect rather in their communities, but the record companies do not put that out. They do not sell that, they don't promote it and they don't put their money behind it. They only put their money behind the "N," "B," and "H" words which are words are offensive to women and African-Americans.
SANCHEZ: And it's those three words. By the way, the "H" word is really "WH," isn't it?
MALLORY: Well, I mean, I guess. That's not how you see it written, but it is all the same thing.
SANCHEZ: Why not stop buying the music? Why not just get enough people out there to care enough to say, you know what, I'm not going to spend my money on this stuff.
MALLORY: Well, we've gone a step further than that. State Senator Antoine M. Thompson from Buffalo is working on a divestment campaign where we will pull, just in New York State alone, we have $3 billion of state pension fund money being invested into these companies, into the music industry so we will begin a divestment campaign in New York State, which will then be used as a national model where we'll look into pulling our moneys out of these companies.
SANCHEZ: Got it. Tamika Mallory, it's a pleasure to have you here. You state your case very well, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
MALLORY: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Any American who wants to be president, has to visit New Hampshire, right, with Ohio and South Carolina at this time of the year. Well, this guy, already? In France? Next, what he's doing in New Hampshire. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: And I welcome you back. If you had Paris and Provence, the Riviera, Normandy, in your own backyard, why would you ever think of vacationing anywhere else? Well, that's what everybody seems to be wondering this week as French President Nicolas Sarkozy takes some time off in New Hampshire of all places. Yep, he's gone 3,000 miles to get away from it all. The trouble is, a French president in a small town in New England, it draws a lot of stares and a lot of attention. Dan Lothian now has the story tonight from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American tourists flock to France to spend their hard-earned cash taking in breathtaking views and sampling world famous cuisine. But French president Nicolas Sarkozy has turned his back on all that, choosing not to vacation in his native land, but instead finding the grass greener in New Hampshire. He's staying along scenic Lake Winnipesauke at a state advertised at $30,000 a week to rent, in the small town of Wolfeboro.
ROB FINNERON, RESTAURANT MANAGER: It's not Tahoe, it's not Deer Valley, it's not Vale where it is so much glitz and glamour. It's still pretty laid back.
LOTHIAN: Harold Chamberlain, a long time resident, understands why the French leader might forgo a town in the south of France for a town in the south of Lake Winnipesauke.
HAROLD CHAMBERLAIN, WOLFEBORO RESIDENT: You can be here and be yourself.
LOTHIAN: But if you are head of state, being yourself on vacation is a bit more complicated. Reporters want answers.
GUILLEMETTE FAURE, FRENCH JOURNALIST: First we were interested in knowing why he would come on vacation in the U.S.
LOTHIAN: The president said he came for the scenery at the invitation of close friends. Then he politely asked reporters to back off.
NICOLAS SARKOZY, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): You can follow other newsworthy stories and leave me in peace with my family.
LOTHIAN: Later out on the lake, a bare-chested and agitated Sarkozy boarded the boat of two news photographers and scolded them in French. They agreed to move on.
It's the talk in this small town where someone strolling along Main Street wearing a blazer is mistaken for part of the security detail. Sarkozy sightings have become a sport. One rumor placed him at the World War II Wright Museum. The executive director hasn't seen him here, but if he did, he'd point out this display.
MARK FOYNES, EXEC DIR WRIGHT MUSEUM: This is the flag that flew over the American headquarters on Victory in Europe Day.
LOTHIAN: Everyone's enjoying the attention.
(on camera): What happens if you run into the French president? What will you say to him?
CHAMBERLAIN: Well, only few words I know is bon jour, Monsieur...
LOTHIAN (voice-over): Wolfeboro claims to be the oldest summer resort in America. Being in the spotlight is nothing new.
(on camera): Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has a vacation home here. And Lake Winnipesauke, where the French president held his mini summit with two photographers, made it into a national television commercial.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Or keeping Lake Winnipesauke clean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold it. Hold it. Lake what? Lake who?
LOTHIAN (voice-over): Well, perhaps fewer people will now be asking that question in the wake of this French connection.
Dan Lothian, CNN, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Here's one of my favorite segments, now. All this year we're be introducing you to people who are determined to bring about change in their own communities and often around the world. We're calling them "CNN Heroes." And tonight you're going meet a young engineer who has brought a remarkable transformation to remote parts of Central America.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATHIAS CRAIG, BLUE ENERGY: It's very difficult to explain to people how remote it is here on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. It's very remote. There are no roads, essentially, anywhere. So, all transportation is by boat.
Monkey Point has always been an abandoned community. They have a serious energy problem here. In these isolated communities, only the wealthiest people have generators. And most people in the community will never have access to that power source.
My name is Mathias Craig, and I work to bring sustainable energy services to isolated communities.
It's going to be good when we raise it.
We're really based around the wind turbine. And then we have a power system with batteries where we store the energy produced by the windmill.
This converts battery power to alternating current. This is what is being transferred to the school. The school also doubles as a community center.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Up, up! CRAIG: Our interest is in delivering sustainable energy services, so we wanted to build our system from scratch here and train local people here through the process of building, that people would learn how to service them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beautiful.
CRAIG: It has a tremendous impact. Any path they choose pretty much requires electricity and clean water. So, by providing one of those basic services, you're opening up a whole a new world of opportunities.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We is living in a historical moment right now, having electricity in Monkey Point is something great to have and in the development in the education level.
CRAIG: My most satisfaction, that I can receive, is really getting a chance to be in the community and see how the energy is being used and seeing the benefit that it provides.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: By the way, if you would like more information about Mathias Craig or about Blue Energy, just go cnn.com/heroes. While you're there, you can also nominate your hero for a special recognition later this year.
By the way, stay with us. We understand now, there's some new developments in that mine rescue case we've been telling you about in Utah. We'll have the latest on it as you look at the picture and we go break. We'll see you right here on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back, we've got some breaking news now on that Utah mine collapse. It might be a little heartbreaking, as well, I'm told by producers. Mine president Bob Murray made an announcement must a little while ago that it might take rescuers a week now to get to the trapped miners. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOB MURRAY, PRES CEO MURRAY ENERGY CORP: Due to the unanticipated seismic activities, and a resulting need to develop an alternate advancement plan and additional roof and rib support plans, the time that will be required to establish roof control and prepare the mine under the new plan makes me believe, and it's the estimate of my management and me personally, that there is absolutely no way that through our underground rescue effort we can reach the vicinity of the trapped miners for at least one week at the earliest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Boy, you almost heard his voice crack as he was saying that. We'll continue to obviously follow that story as it continues to develop. LARRY KING LIVE starts right now.
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