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Paula Zahn Now

Teen Drivers Are More Dangerous Than Anyone Thought; Two Rowers Nearly Die in the Atlantic; American Life on the Line in Iraq; Survival at Sea; Bank Robber Turned in By Sons Speaks Out

Aired January 18, 2006 - 20:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening, everybody. Thanks for joining us tonight.
We are watching the critical hours, as an American family prays for a daughter's rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): A life on the line as a deadline in Iraq gets closer.

DAVID COOK, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": It would be wrong to murder someone who has devoted herself unselfishly to promoting understanding of the Iraqi people.

COLLINS: A desperate plea, as terrorists threaten to kill an American reporter -- tonight, the latest on the effort to rescue Jill Carroll.

"Outside the Law" -- the mystery unmasked. After a bizarre series of holdups, the bank robber is turned in by his own sons. Tonight, an exclusive jailhouse interview.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you believe that that was you?

BILL GINGLEN, DEFENDANT: It wasn't to me that I lived with for 60-some years. But it's -- it's something I have got to deal with now.

COLLINS: And what does he think of his sons?

And the "Eye Opener" -- stranded at sea, two young women on amazing adventure when disaster strikes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It felt like a violent thrust. It just nailed us.

COLLINS: All alone in high wind and heavy seas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was either live or die. You know, we were out there to live.

COLLINS: How did they find the courage to survive?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Tonight, the clock continues ticking toward a deadline set by a shadowy group of kidnappers in Iraq.

At this hour, we do not know if they have heard or intend to pay attention to the pleas coming in from around the world, pleas for them to spare the life of an American journalist, Jill Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): American and Iraqi forces are scouring Baghdad today, looking for any clue in the kidnapping of Jill Carroll. She vanished January 7 while trying to interview an Iraqi politician in western Baghdad. The politician didn't show up, and Carroll's car was ambushed. Her Iraqi interpreter was killed.

Their Iraqi driver escaped. There was no word of Carroll's fate until yesterday, when the Arabic-language TV network Al-Jazeera ran this brief clip of silent video, apparently from her abductors. The tape arrived with a note threatening she would be killed unless the United States released all female Iraqi prisoners within 72 hours.

The U.S. military says, out of its 14,000 detainees in Iraq, eight are women. Carroll has been working in Iraq since October of 2003. She is 28, a freelance journalist, and was on assignment for "The Christian Science Monitor."

This afternoon, the paper's Washington bureau chief pleaded for her release.

DAVID COOK, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": "The Monitor" is availing itself of every option we can think of to secure her release. But I don't think it would be helpful for Jill if I went beyond that.

Members of Carroll's family are also trying to influence the kidnappers, calling Carroll -- quote -- "a friend and sister to many Iraqis" -- that sentiment echoed by her colleagues.

JACKIE SPINNER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": She dressed as an Iraqi. She wore a head scarf, the Iraqi abaya. And she was very discrete. She spoke Arabic. So, she didn't speak English when she was in public, and tried to blend in as much as possible into the normal society.

COLLINS: In Iraq these days, blending in is vital. Correspondents say, no part of Baghdad is safe.

DEXTER FILKINS, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": It is dangerous all the time, everywhere. The truth is, is that she -- she was in a dangerous neighborhood, but -- but, virtually, every neighborhood in Baghdad is dangerous. You could be -- you could be snatched or shot at or kidnapped just about anywhere.

COLLINS: For now, Jill Carroll's colleagues can only wait and hope. COOK: We respectfully call on Jill's captors to exercise justice and mercy and to let our innocent colleague be reunited with her family.

COLLINS: The kidnappers' deadline is Friday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: The people at "The Christian Science Monitor" say they have not done any lip-reading and don't know what Jill Carroll was saying in that video clip.

Al-Jazeera says Carroll's abductors identified themselves as members of a previously unknown group called the Brigades of Vengeance. And, for what it's worth, A group with a similar name kidnapped a Swedish-Iraqi Christian politician last year. After threatening to behead him, they released the man unharmed.

With me now is someone who knows Jill Carroll, "TIME" magazine senior correspondent Bobby Ghosh.

And, Bobby, tell us a little bit about Jill. What kind of a person was she?

BOBBY GHOSH, "TIME": Well, Jill was -- was a very special kind of journalist. She was very empathetic and very interested in what happens to Iraqi people.

A lot of journalists in Baghdad spend a lot of their time at press conferences or interviewing military commanders or -- or government figures. Jill did all of that. But she was also able in her journalism to get to the lives of ordinary Iraqis. And that was what she was most interested in.

She learned the language. She went out and spent time with ordinary Iraqis, understood how they were living through this very traumatic time.

COLLINS: And we should be very careful here, talking about her in the present tense. I mean...

GHOSH: Yes.

COLLINS: With know that Jill is still with us at this point.

GHOSH: Yes.

COLLINS: And you know as well as anyone how dangerous Baghdad is, of course. I mean, this is not a place where you just have access and you can roam around the country freely.

And the last time that you spoke with her was just a couple of months ago.

GHOSH: Yes.

COLLINS: Did you talk about those safety issues?

GHOSH: Actually, we did talk about it in passing.

And Jill was talking about how she felt that, when she went out and interacted with Iraqis, she -- particularly when she wore the -- the Iraqi-style -- the Arab-style headgear, she felt that she got a very positive response from Iraqi people. She felt that they identified with her, they warmed up to her, and they were responsible for her security.

I remember her saying something like, when I'm with Iraqi people, they look after me, because I'm a guest, I'm a foreigner, and I'm a woman.

COLLINS: She -- she has a lot of Iraqi friends.

GHOSH: She has lots of Iraqi friends, more than the average journalist does in Iraq.

COLLINS: Well, how did you feel, though, when you first heard that Jill had been kidnapped?

(CROSSTALK)

GHOSH: Well, it was a blow. We -- we -- unfortunately, over the last three years in Iraq, we have had -- we have had to endure this sort of news over and over again of colleagues being kidnapped, colleagues being killed or maimed in some way.

But, with Jill, it was -- it was a special blow. She had -- she had been a guest at "TIME" magazine's house in Baghdad many times. She would come over for a meal. And it was particularly a blow because she was such an empathetic person. She was so sympathetic with Iraqis.

And I think her kidnappers had no idea who they were getting their hands on...

COLLINS: The interesting...

GHOSH: ... because I think she's the last sort of person that they would want to harm in any way.

COLLINS: Sure. And she does speak the language. She does speak Arabic.

GHOSH: She took the -- yes, she took the trouble to learn the language.

And I suspect the more her kidnappers speak with her, the more they will come to realize what a special person she is.

COLLINS: And you have to wonder if -- if they have been able to read any of her stories that she has written or if she is encouraging them to do that.

(CROSSTALK)

GHOSH: I -- I would imagine they would, because Iraq has become a very Internet-savvy place, almost overnight. And I -- I suspect that they would have Googled her name once they had her.

(CROSSTALK)

GHOSH: And they would have read her stories. And I hope they have, because they will find that one common strain in her journalism is how much she has been able to tell the lives -- stories of the lives of ordinary Iraqis.

COLLINS: She has really connected with them. That's for sure.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: Bobby Ghosh, we appreciate your time very much.

GHOSH: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Well, right now, the only survivor of the Sago Mine tragedy is breathing on his own and appears to be coming out of a coma.

It has been more than two weeks since the disaster that killed a dozen West Virginia coal miners. But, tonight, there does seem to be hopeful news about survivor Randy McCloy.

Let's go ahead and get the very latest now from Chris Huntington.

Good evening, Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, good evening.

The doctors here in West Virginia were guardedly, I would say, almost ecstatic today -- tremendous recovery to report about Randy, great progress.

Here is how the chief of neurosurgery here at West Virginia University Hospital put it earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JULIAN BAILES, CHIEF OF NEUROSURGERY, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: With great hope, we announce that Randy McCloy is awakening from his coma. He is opening his eyes. He has purposeful movements. He responds to his family in slight ways. He moves all extremities. His brain stem function, which has been normal, remains normal, pupillary response, swallowing, facial movement. We consider him probably best described in a -- in a light coma.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTINGTON: Now, the doctors went on to say that Randy apparently can track objects and people in the room with him, a very good sign, apparently also able to suck on an ice cube today. He's had the breathing tubes removed from his throat.

That's a good -- good indication that he's making progress. He's breathing on his own, as you said. The fact that he can suck on an ice cube, they say, may mean that he may be ready in some days ahead for something more of a normal meal. Right now, he's being fed in a -- in a tube through his stomach -- still a difficult situation.

They are hesitating, though, to -- to define anything, in terms of his long-term recovery. They say he has a long, long way to go. He's still listed in serious condition and still in that light coma -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Well, Chris, before we let you go, quickly, boy, we hear a lot about science when we talk medicine. But, sometimes, there is art and sometimes there is that word, miracle. We very rarely hear that, which we heard it today at the press conference. Have they learned anything about how he may have survived?

HUNTINGTON: Heidi, that is -- that is what they are saying, a miracle.

They just don't know how he managed, with a collapsed lung, in the same environment as the other miners, how Randy McCloy managed to survive. Yes, he was young. Yes, he was strong. But he was under as much trauma as the rest of them. He has managed to survive. They are encouraged about what they're seeing in his brain activity recovering. They still say, though, that they really won't know the full extent of his possible recovery until he fully emerges from that coma.

But they are using the word miracle. And they're saying that there are things happening here with Randy McCloy that are beyond what they can explain with medical science -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Well, America keeps their fingers crossed. That is for sure.

Chris Huntington, thank you.

In a moment, the story of a woman who gave up her baby for adoption and now is waiting for her to die.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALLISON SUDYKA AVRETT, BIOLOGICAL MOTHER OF HALEIGH POUTRE: It's a bittersweet feeling, knowing that she won't have to suffer anymore. But, at the same time, it is the loss of a child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Next, why the girl's father is fighting to save her life. Is it just to save his own neck?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPPENHEIM: I'm Keith Oppenheim in Lewistown, Illinois, the hometown of three grown sons who turned their father in for bank robbery. A month ago, we interviewed the sons. Tonight, we hear from the dad from jail -- his story coming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: And the unbelievable story of two women who set out on a race across the ocean. How did they end up beating death?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Tonight, we have a remarkable jailhouse interview with a bank robber who was turned in by his own sons. This is a story we have been following closely.

And while we have heard from the sons who made the painful choice when they recognized their father on surveillance pictures, we have not yet heard from William Ginglen himself. Three weeks ago, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, after pleading guilty to robbing five banks in the Midwest.

Right now, his side in a surprising interview with Keith Oppenheim. It is tonight's "Outside the Law."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): To his neighbors and friends in Lewistown, Illinois, William A. Ginglen was a solid citizen. A father of four, a grandfather of seven, and a former Marine, he was well respected in this rural community.

But, for years, he had been keeping his real life a secret. And now he is a prisoner in a county jail, waiting to be transferred to a federal penitentiary. At the age of 64, Bill Ginglen faces the likelihood he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

(on camera): Hi.

BILL GINGLEN, DEFENDANT: Howdy.

OPPENHEIM: I'm Keith.

B. GINGLEN: Bill.

OPPENHEIM: Nice to meet you, Bill.

B. GINGLEN: Nice to meet you.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): For weeks, I had been hoping to meet him, to hear his version of how his life transformed.

(on camera): Did you rob those banks? Seven banks, 56,000 bucks, did you do that?

B. GINGLEN: I can't answer that question, on the -- on the advice of my attorney.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Right off the bat, I could see he was a mix, at times contrite, often evasive. But I wasn't surprised. In December, I interviewed Ginglen's three sons, Garrett, Clay and Jared, who told me their side of the story and how they learned their father led a dual life.

In the summer of 2004, Jared, a Peoria police officer, read a newspaper story about a serial bank robber in central Illinois. There was a reference to a Web site with surveillance photos.

JARED GINGLEN, TURNED FATHER IN: As Soon as I read that, I went home and looked at the web site. And sure enough, those pictures -- I had no doubt that it was our father, wearing a mask and a hat and sunglasses. But we could tell it was him.

OPPENHEIM: Police say, during a nine-month spree, from 2003 to 2004, Bill Ginglen committed seven bank robberies at gunpoint and single-handedly stole more than $56,000.

Ginglen's sons told me, on the day they saw those pictures, they immediately tried to confront their father. But, when they couldn't find him, they called police, concerned largely for his own safety.

GARRETT GINGLEN, TURNED FATHER IN: It was in all of our minds, I think, a no-brainer. It was a must-do. Somebody could have got hurt. He's out there breaking the law. He's going against everything we were ever told when we were kids. What I did, I don't regret a bit.

OPPENHEIM: The sons said their father taught them right from wrong, to do the right thing. And that's exactly what they say they did. But Bill Ginglen argues, when his sons saw the surveillance pictures, they rushed to judgment.

B. GINGLEN: I don't know how they could have been dead certain without consulting me.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Well, without their certainty being an issue, was it you?

B. GINGLEN: According to plea agreement, it was me.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The case against Ginglen was built in part on a journal confiscated by police in which he wrote about an affair, a crack cocaine habit, and gave a timeline of his crimes.

Ginglen claimed the journal was seized illegally and partly fiction. But he did say some recurring themes were factual, his unemployment and his money troubles.

B. GINGLEN: I had applied for maybe 500 different jobs. And I had come up against the age barrier. And that was first time in my life that ever happened. I think, at one point, I was, you know, pretty despondent and wanted to strike out somewhere.

Why I figured this was the way to do it, I -- I can't answer, because I wouldn't recommend this for me again. And I certainly wouldn't recommend it for anybody else.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Were you feeling desperate?

B. GINGLEN: Yes. I think that was part of it, depressed, desperate, under the gun, at a loss as what to do.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): What he did next would change his life. And Bill Ginglen admits, on some level, he was disconnected from the danger.

B. GINGLEN: I would have cut and run before I would have harmed any human being, believe me. I never took a loaded weapon into a bank.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Do you ever -- did you ever think that you could have been killed attempting to rob a bank?

B. GINGLEN: I think that's the scary part. But I think, at one point, I didn't particularly care.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In the jail, I asked Ginglen to watch excerpts from the interviews I had done with his sons.

CLAY GINGLEN, TURNED FATHER IN: I feel like, if he was really seeing this from our angle, that he should thank us for putting a stop to what he was doing, and doing it, you know, as quickly as we did. I don't think that's going to happen. But that's -- that's what I would really like to hear.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): Have you thanked them?

B. GINGLEN: No. I think thanking them might be a stretch, because I still get hung up on the concept that they should have, as a courtesy, if nothing else, called me, given me the opportunity to turn myself in. They should have had that much faith in their father.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): Bill Ginglen is now struggling with the painful realization his sons lost faith in their father. On December 29, for seven counts of robbery and two gun charges, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He pleaded guilty. But the terms of the plea allow him to appeal his sentence, with hopes he will get out and reunite with his family.

Right now, all his sons say they're not ready.

J. GINGLEN: He was my father at one time. And he's still my father, but he's not going to be welcome in my house. He's crossed too many lines.

B. GINGLEN: I don't care what my sons say or how critical of me they are. I love my kids. I love my sons. I always will.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): You want to see them again?

B. GINGLEN: Yes.

OPPENHEIM: Bill, what are the chances of that, you think?

B. GINGLEN: I think they're pretty good.

OPPENHEIM: You believe you can find a way?

B. GINGLEN: I believe I will do my part.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM: I'm joining you live from the firehouse in Lewistown, Illinois, where two of Bill Ginglen's sons are volunteer firefighters, and where I played the tape of the jailhouse interview for the three brothers.

They chose not to go on camera this time, but they did tell me they were somewhat surprised by what they saw. The man they had come to see as manipulative and, to some extent, unwilling to take full responsibility for his actions had softened a bit, they said. And they could, they said, once again, hear the voice of the father they knew.

Despite that, they are far from reconciling. And they can't say when or if they will visit him in prison -- Heidi.

COLLINS: It is a tough one.

Keith Oppenheim, thank you.

Still to come tonight, would you try rowing all the way across the Atlantic Ocean? Wait until you hear what happened to these young women.

Right now, though, it's time to check in this hour's top stories. Erica Hill at Headline News is standing by -- Erica.

ERICA HILL, HEADLINE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Heidi, more hints tonight, but the U.S. still not exactly sure whether an attack that destroyed several homes in a Pakistani village may have killed high- ranking members of al Qaeda.

Sources, though, are telling CNN, a chemical weapons expert with a $5 million price tag on his head was in the vicinity of the village. They cannot confirm, however, he was one of the more than a dozen people killed in the attack. U.S. officials say they believe two other high-ranking al Qaeda figures were also in the area and may have been killed as well.

A wave of attacks across Iraq has left at least 19 people dead today, including two American police trainers killed by a roadside bomb in Basra. The U.S. soldier also died in a noncombat-related incident.

The Army is doubling bonuses to boost recruiting members and get more soldiers to reenlist. Those bonuses could go as high as $90,000. The army is also raising the age limit for recruits from 35 to 42 years old. Last year, the Army fell short of its recruiting goals.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he sees a one- size-fits-all I.D. card in the future, one that would serve as a driver's license, work I.D. and border pass. Chertoff said he's not pushing for a national I.D., just a consolidation of cards.

Former President Gerald Ford could be released from a Rancho Mirage, California, hospital as soon as tomorrow. The former president was admitted Saturday for treatment of pneumonia.

And, finally, winds strong enough to flip a semi roared across the Northeast today. Heavy rains also caused delays at airports, on the roads and even for commuter railways.

And, Heidi, that's a look at the headlines at this hour -- back over to you.

COLLINS: Yes, it was pretty nasty out there.

All right. Erica Hill, thank you.

Well, what is one of the biggest dangers you will ever face on the highway? Coming up, a new report's shocking conclusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She knows what that little bit of wrong did. It has destroyed our family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Stay with us for a story no parent can afford to miss.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: An 11-year-old Massachusetts girl allegedly beaten by her parents and left in a coma may soon be removed from life support. Could her stepfather be charged with murder? It is a complicated, emotional case. And we will have that story when PAULA ZAHN NOW continues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Tonight, the life of a little girl in a coma is in the hands of Massachusetts bureaucrats. The highest court in that state has denied the appeal of her stepfather, who is trying to keep her alive.

He has good reason to want her to stay on life support. If she dies, her stepfather is likely to face murder charges in her death.

Here is Dan Lothian.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN (voice-over): Eleven-year-old Haleigh Poutre had a beautiful smile and loved to dance.

SANDRA SUDYKA, GRANDMOTHER OF HALEIGH POUTRE: She was so full of life before and loved people.

LOTHIAN: But everything changed last September, when authorities say Haleigh's adoptive mother and stepfather abused her, allegedly kicking and beating her with a baseball bat and causing a clot in the brain.

The young girl is at this Massachusetts hospital in what doctors call a permanent vegetative state, a shadow of her former self. Her birth mother, who gave her up after allegations of neglect and during a difficult time in her own life, wants the suffering to end.

ALLISON SUDYKA AVRETT, BIOLOGICAL MOTHER OF HALEIGH POUTRE: I don't want to see her suffer anymore. And she -- this isn't a life. I mean, there is things keeping her alive. What -- what kind of life is that?

LOTHIAN (on camera): The Massachusetts Department of Social Services, which has legal custody of the child, agrees. But, in its effort to have her removed from life support, the agency has met legal resistance from Haleigh's stepfather, Jason Strickland, who could be charged with murder if she dies. What makes this case even more complicated is the fact that the birth mother and adoptive mother are sisters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This case involves the tragic plight of an 11-year-old child.

LOTHIAN: Strickland's lawyers had argued before the state's highest court for parental rights and a say in her medical care. But that argument was rejected. Life support can now be removed.

SUDYKA AVRETT: It's a bittersweet feeling, knowing that she won't have to suffer anymore. But, at the same time, it is the loss of a child.

LOTHIAN: Strickland's lawyer said he's deeply disappointed and maintains, his client was never motivated by the prospect of a murder charge.

As for Haleigh's adoptive mother, Holli Strickland, she was also charged in the beating, but was found dead in this home, along with her own grandmother, not long after the 11-year-old was hospitalized. It is being investigated as a murder/suicide.

Haleigh remains attached to a ventilator and feeding tube. No decision has been made on when life support would be removed. But, in a development late today, doctors say they have noticed a -- quote -- "change in her condition." More tests have been ordered.

Meanwhile, the young girl's birth mother remains haunted by the day she gave up her daughter to her sister seven years ago.

SUDYKA AVRETT: I don't believe she ever should have been taken.

I'm sorry.

LOTHIAN: Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

SUDYKA AVRETT: I'm just so sorry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Haleigh's stepfather, Jason Strickland, is still free on bail, waiting for his trial on assault charges. His lawyer has not decided whether they will take any further legal action, like going to federal court.

Coming up, two women who tried to conquer the Atlantic Ocean in a rowboat, how did they nearly lose their lives?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had extremely high surge with the situation that we were in. Making the great team that we are, we kept each other going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: What happened while they were at sea? How did they get out alive? They will tell us in just a little bit.

But, next, a brand-new study that may frighten a lot of parents, but will it make their teenagers better drivers?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: New numbers just out today show that teenage drivers, the ones with brand new licenses, are more dangerous than anyone thought. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, from 1995 to 2004, close to 31,000 people died in crashes involving the youngest drivers, from ages 15 to 17.

And two-thirds of the deaths were other drivers, passengers, pedestrians or bicyclists rather than the teen drivers themselves. All this has safety groups calling for more restrictions on young drivers to prevent more tragic stories like the one you're about to hear from Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA DUFFNER, VICTIM'S MOTHER: And we walked every day. This was our everyday walk.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was no surprise to Lisa Duffner that teen drivers often survive crashes when other people involved don't. Her 2-year-old son was killed nearly seven years ago by a teen driver on a cell phone. She and her three children were taking their daily walk.

I never even saw it or heard it coming. We were up on the grass and I flew 60 feet, my head hit the mailbox. I went up on the windshield and my daughter had to go find her little brother and she was only 9 years old. DORNIN: Now 16, Erica, Duffner's daughter, is just getting her license.

(on camera): But will you let her -- in her first year of driving, are you going let her go to a football game, drive with her friends?

DUFFNER: No. Not ever with her friends. There is so much peer pressure out there.

DORNIN (voice-over): Not surprising for a mother who every day sees the very place where her son was killed by a teen driver. It happened only two houses down the street from her own. And every day, Duffner is forced to see all the things teens do in cars that are dangerous on the road. She is a school bus driver for the local high school.

DUFFNER: The speeding, and the little skidding, just to show off, and then to pile all the kids in. They pile all the friends in.

DORNIN: That frightens Duffner, not only for herself and other drivers, but she worries about the future driving habits of her daughter. She plans on sending her daughter, Erica, to not one, but two different driving schools.

(on camera): Even with parental pressure, even if you teach them to be better drivers, how could you stop them from just acting like teens?

DUFFNER: You can't. You can only bring your child up as you feel you need to bring your child up and you hope that they go out there ...

DORNIN: And behave.

DUFFNER: ... with all your values and behave themselves.

DORNIN (voice-over): Duffner believes in her heart that her daughter will have a different attitude behind the wheel because of what happened seven years ago.

DUFFNER: She knows what that little bit of wrong did. It has destroyed our family.

DORNIN: Rusty Dornin, CNN, Lawrenceville, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: And now I'm going to turn to someone who knows about this from the other side. John Templeton was a teenage driver when he drove drunk and killed an 18-year-old woman three years ago. He pleaded guilty to DUI, manslaughter and vehicular homicide. He served time in jail and as part of his sentence, he speaks to peers and teens about the deadly consequences of driving drunk. He joins me now.

On the night of the accident, you left a club, got behind the wheel of your car, and according to state troopers, you were driving 70 miles per hour into oncoming traffic when your Ford Explorer came face to face with Julie Buckner's (ph) Honda. What do you remember about this head on collision?

JOHN TEMPLETON, KILLED WOMAN IN DUI CRASH: You know, Heidi, the last memory that I have is being in the club and I'm thinking that I'm having the time of my life and I don't remember anything about leaving the club. The next thing I know is I'm waking up -- well, regaining consciousness and lying in a hospital bed handcuffed to a hospital gurney, having no idea why I was there.

COLLINS: In fact, your blood alcohol content was nearly three times the legal limit. Do you even remember getting behind the wheel of your car at all?

TEMPLETON: No, I don't. I don't remember even walking to my car. I don't remember leaving the club. I still can't -- I still don't have any memory of the crash or even leaving the club.

COLLINS: You said that the first thing you do remember, though, is waking up, handcuffed to that hospital bed, but with a state trooper standing beside you. What did that trooper say to you?

TEMPLETON: He told me that I was in a lot of trouble. And that's when he told me the tragic truth of what had happened, that I had taken a life of an 18-year-old girl because of my actions, because my choice to drink and drive.

COLLINS: What did you say to him when you learned that?

TEMPLETON: I could not believe it. That is something that I used to see on TV or read about the newspaper articles and now I'm hearing that I'm responsible for that. I just felt like my whole life was sucked out of me, and all I could do is lay there and cry and just pray that he was telling me something that was not true.

I remember pleading with him, asking him if could give this girl CPR -- are you sure she's dead -- and just screaming and crying. And, I mean, I was absolutely devastated. I couldn't believe that I was responsible for taking someone's life.

COLLINS: I know that you served nine months in a state prison, and you had your license revoked permanently. You are required to educate teens, as we talked about, on the consequences of drinking and driving. Most uniquely though, you are required to carry a picture of your victim, Julie Buckner, with you at all times.

TEMPLETON: Yes, I am.

COLLINS: What do you think about when you look at her picture?

TEMPLETON: I mean, first, I -- truthfully I see a beautiful girl and it hurts me because every time I look at that picture, I think -- I always think every day, you know what would Julie be doing right now, you know, right this moment, had I not made that choice that night, a choice that I didn't even really think about. You know, I think about the life that was cut short. Her parents, instead of planning a wedding, they had to plan a funeral for their baby when she was just 18 years old. It is a burden and it is a guilt that never goes away.

COLLINS: I know that the Buckners have forgiven you, which is pretty remarkable. What is the one thing that you would like to say to teens, though, to tell them just to never, ever drink and drive?

TEMPLETON: You know, if you can learn from my mistake, then you might save your own life and might save somebody else's life because this is something that I thought would never happen to me. And I know Julie thought -- never thought that this could happen to her.

It is -- every choice we make has consequences, and every time you drink and drive or are irresponsible behind the wheel, you're not only putting your life in jeopardy, but you're putting everybody else on the road's life in jeopardy, and that's just not fair.

And, you know, a decision that teenagers -- that you all -- make now at 16, 17, I made it at 19 years old. It's living with me the rest of my life, and a choice you make now can live with you the rest of your life.

COLLINS: That's a message that I hope all teens are listening to tonight. John Templeton, thanks for sharing your story.

TEMPLETON: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: We're going switch our focus in just a moment. Coming up, a new kind of Declaration of Independence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We're here today as Democrats to declare the independence of Congress from lobbyists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Huh? And give up all those free golf trips?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jason Carroll. They were stranded in open water, thousands of miles from shore, desperately clinging to their boat for survival. I'll have their story of strength and determination coming up on PAULA ZAHN NOW.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Quite a scene on Capitol Hill these days with growing public outrage over abuses by some high-powered lobbyists. Lawmakers are trying to outdo one another, swearing off goodies like expensive meals, football tickets, and great trips to play golf. Well, what's gotten into everybody? Congressional correspondent Ed Henry reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The stampede is on to see which political party can clean up Congress faster.

PELOSI: We're here today as Democrats to declare the independence of Congress from lobbyists.

HENRY: Hoping to capitalize on the growing Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, Democrats made a big show of signing a pledge to bring integrity back to Capitol Hill. And nervous Republicans who have been rocked by the Abramoff revelations are scrambling to out- reform the Democrats.

REP. DENNIS HASTERT (R-ILL.), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Private travel has been abused by some. And I believe we need to put an end to it.

HENRY: The rhetoric on both sides has the ring of sinners vowing they found religion. Here is how they got to this point. There was former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's trip to Scotland to play golf at the historic St. Andrews. The trip, which included DeLay's wife and two staffers, cost more than $70,000. More than $10,000 of that for meals alone.

While DeLay has been dogged by allegations Abramoff improperly helped bankroll that trip, lawmakers in both parties are frequent travelers at the expense of organizations that want to influence government policy. Republican John Boehner, who's running on a reform agenda to replace DeLay as majority leader, has been on 39 trips in the last five years, worth more than $157,000.

Boehner's had winter stops in golfing meccas like Scottsdale, Arizona, West Palm Beach, Florida, and Pebble Beach, California. Senator Evan Bayh, a potential Democratic presidential candidate has taken 45 trips, worth almost $170,000, including $8,000 for a week- long trip to Hawaii for a conference on U.S./China relations.

Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert now wants to end all privately funded travel and limit gifts from lobbyists to $20. Democrats want to up the ante by banning all gifts. But watchdogs wonder if senators might be corrupted by a $50 steak, how can they still accept thousand- dollar campaign contributions from the very same lobbyist?

CHELLIE PINGREE, COMMON CAUSE: It's important that they get rid of gifts, it's important that they get rid of travel. But frankly, it is minor compared to the importance of changing the way we finance elections and reducing the corruption of the influence of money in politics in Washington today.

HENRY: The disparity is absurd to some veteran politicians.

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MISSISSIPPI: Some of it is outrageous. Now we're going to say you can't have a meal for more than 20 bucks. Where are you going, McDonald's?

(END VIDEOTAPE) HENRY: Critics note that Congress already has rules that some lawmakers chose to ignore. So new regulations will be meaningless, unless they are strictly enforced. Ed Henry, CNN, Capitol Hill.

COLLINS: Well, even if you've never eaten a $50 steak or taken a free golfing trip to Scotland, here is a part of the reform push you might actually notice. Speaker Dennis Hastert wants to reign in the groups that paid for all of those really nasty attack ads we saw over and over during the last presidential campaign.

Well the stock market, all over place today. But ended mostly down. For what's behind the sell-off, here's Erica Hill with "HEADLINE NEWS BIZ BREAK."

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COLLINS: All right, Erica, thanks a lot. "LARRY KING LIVE" comes up in about, oh, 10 minutes or so. Larry, who are you going to be talking with tonight?

LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Two interesting topics. We'll discuss, of course, the missing journalist in Iraq. And have a look at that from the various viewpoints, including a former hostage.

And then we'll look into the extraordinary case of a woman who killed her father because of abuse. She has just gotten out of prison. She'll be on with her whole family and this will be her first appearance since being released from prison. It's an incredible story and we'll look at both of those incidents tonight at 9:00, immediately following the lovely and talented Heidi Collins.

COLLINS: Thank you very much, Larry. We, of course, will watch you at 9:00, thanks a lot.

KING: Thank you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Coming up next, a race that few of us would ever even attempt. What can go wrong when you try to row a boat across the Atlantic Ocean? Stay with us for a truly amazing story.

And later, what can wrong in a high-speed chase along a busy highway? You'll see.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Reporter: Now the story of two adventurous young women who decided to row a boat across 3,000 miles of ocean. No motor, no sails, just a rowboat not much longer than a minivan. That alone would be one incredible story. But it is only the beginning.

Here's Jason Carroll with a tale of survival that will have you on the edge of your seat. It's tonight's "Eye Opener."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On November 30th, Emily Kohl, 23, and Sarah Kessans, 22, set out to make nautical history. Their goal, become the youngest women to finish what is billed as the toughest rowing race in the world: The Woodville Atlantic Rowing Race, a cross-Atlantic trek using nothing but oars for power. The two wanted adventure. What they got was a lesson in survival.

SARAH KESSANS, RESCUED ROWER: It was either live or die. And Emily and I are both very determined, very headstrong people. And we were out there to live.

CARROLL: It was their determination that kept them alive. Forty-six days into their journey, from the Canary Islands from Antigua, on a stormy afternoon, a large wave comes out of nowhere, capsizing their 24 foot boat, The American Fire, right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

KESSANS: As soon as we flipped, it became dark in the cabin and we couldn't see a whole lot. Just absolute chaos.

CARROLL: Both recounted their harrowing ordeal when we reached them via satellite phone on board the boat that rescued them. They described what happened as their tiny cabin filled with water, trapping them inside. Their only life raft drifting away.

(on camera): Once you realize something like that, psychologically what does that do to you?

EMILY KOHL, RESCUED ROWER: We had extremely high spirits with the situation that we were in. Being the great team we are, we kept each other going.

CARROLL (voice over): They activated an emergency beacon. The U.S. Coast Guard in Norfolk, Virginia, got the signal and alerted the closest ship, the Stavros S. Niarchos, located about 120 miles away.

(on camera): Meanwhile, the rowers were running out of air. It was getting dark. Sarah swam out first in the stormy weather and for several agonizing minutes she wondered why Emily did not immediately follow her. The.

KESSANS: I didn't know if she was trying to come out or what she was doing.

CARROLL (voice over): Emily was stuck.

KOHL: I got caught up in the lifeline. And so luckily there was an air pocket in the well. It was pretty frightful just getting caught and not being able to come out of the cabin the whole way.

CARROLL: Emily finally freed herself and the two clung to each other and to the small hull of their boat, battling freezing temperatures and massive waves for 16 hours.

(on camera): What did you tell each other during the time when you were there on the boat to try to pass the time, to try to keep your spirits up? KOHL: We told jokes to each other and sang songs and just basically talked about anything and everything.

CARROLL (voice over): The song of choice, Alanis Morissette's "Ironic." This past Sunday, their singing was replaced with sounds of joy. A Coast Guard helicopter spotted them, giving their position to the Niarchos. The ship's captain was overjoyed.

VOICE OF CAPTAIN DARREN NAGGS, STAVROS S. NIARCHOS: It was a real life or death situation for them. And very difficult to find them and then -- it went well. We were so cheerful and happy to have found them.

CARROLL: Their families could not be happier.

JENNA KOLLINGS, EMILY KOHL'S SISTER: When I got that phone call from Emily in the 5:00 hour on Monday morning, I was elated to talk to her. I wanted to reach through the phone and give her a great big hug.

CARROLL: Both rowers say, despite their ordeal, they won't give up on racing.

KESSANS: I want to finish what we started. We're going to do it and we're going to finish it and do it right and bring it home for America.

CARROLL: They'll try again next year. Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Next, another wild story, a chase along the highways of Houston, Texas. Did he get away?

And at the top of the hour, why was Jill Carroll risking her life in Iraq? Friends and colleague of the kidnapped journalist share their stories on "LARRY KING LIVE."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: And before we go, a pretty dramatic scene in Texas. If you've ever been tempted to outrun a cop car, learn a lesson from this. It happened a few hours ago in Houston.

The driver of the car being chased went the wrong way on a one way ramp. Big mistake. He hit another car head on. The woman in that car was furious. Look at this. Not only did Donna McShan (ph) jump across the hood of her car to pound on the guy's window, she continued shouting at him even as the police closed in.

He gave up pretty quickly too. Was taken away. Both McShan and the baby in her back seat went to a hospital for observation. The chase had gone on for more than an hour and covered just about every major freeway in and around Houston. No word yet on what charges that driver will face. Don't ever cross a mad mommy trying to protect her kid. That's all for tonight. Thanks for joining us everybody. "LARRY KING LIVE" begins right now.

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