Return to Transcripts main page
Paula Zahn Now
Cheney's Shooting Accident Stirs Media Controversy; Kids and Guns; Alabama Church Fires; Valentine's Day Puppy Love; Obsessed with Beauty
Aired February 13, 2006 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. And thank you all for being with us.
Tonight, the controversy over the shot that was not heard around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN (voice-over): "Beyond the Headlines" -- backfire. If the vice president shoots someone, isn't that news? Shouldn't you at least tell the White House?
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It wasn't until very early Sunday morning that I found out the vice president was involved.
Why did it take so long to learn what happened?
ZAHN: The "Eye Opener" -- kids and guns. Are these kids too young to be hunters?
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What did it feel like the first time that you held a gun?
DANIELLE FAECHNER, 12-YEAR-OLD HUNTER: It was kind of scary.
ZAHN: Are they just carrying on a family tradition or endangering themselves and others?
HEIDI PRESCOTT, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR CAMPAIGNS, HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES: Children and young adolescents lack the emotional maturity.
ZAHN: And mysteries of the mind. This woman is obsessed with beauty, dozens of nips and tucks -- three nose jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I can't blow my nose like a normal person.
ZAHN: And she's still in her 20s.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is irresponsible on the part of a surgeon or surgeons not to have stopped her at some point.
ZAHN: Tonight, one of the most amazing interviews you have ever seen -- when beautiful just isn't good enough.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: There is a big firestorm brewing over tonight's top story. Was there a deliberate attempt to quash the news that Vice President Dick Cheney shot and injured a man on Saturday?
It was a hunting accident on a ranch in South Texas. But, for nearly 24 hours, no one said a thing to the press or the public. And the details of the story are still dribbling out tonight -- some breaking news just as of a couple minutes ago.
And Ed Lavandera is in Corpus Christi, Texas, near the scene of the accident. And he has just filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a 50,000-acre ranch in South Texas, Harry Whittington was enjoying the final hours of a daylong quail hunt with Vice President Dick Cheney. But the last shot of the day didn't bag a prized bird. It peppered Whittington in the face, neck and chest.
Katharine Armstrong, whose family owns the ranch where the vice president was hunting, says she still considers Cheney a safe hunter.
KATHARINE ARMSTRONG, RANCH OWNER: He has been here before. And he's a -- an excellent shot, a very conscientious shot. And I would never think twice about shooting very comfortably with the vice president. You know, it is -- it is part of the risk involved. And we all try very hard to -- to follow all of the gun safety rules.
LAVANDERA: Armstrong says Whittington forgot to follow a basic rule of hunting: Don't surprise someone carrying a loaded weapon. She says Whittington did not announce his approach as the vice president fired at some quail.
Whittington was about 30 yards away when Cheney fired. At that distance, the shot gun pellets inflicted what doctors say are superficial wounds. He has been in the hospital since Saturday.
PETER BANKO, CHRISTUS SPOHN HOSPITAL CORPUS CHRISTI-MEMORIAL: Not critical, not serious -- he's in stable condition, doing extremely well. He's no -- there is no longer a need for him to be in intensive care. So, he's being moved to our step-down unit.
LAVANDERA: Whittington is alert, walking, and joking with nurses about his momentary fame as the victim of Dick Cheney's misfire.
Cheney was interviewed by the sheriff's deputy, but not until Sunday morning, about 12 hours after the incident. The shooting itself, at this point, seems to be pretty straightforward -- just an accident that happened to involve a very high-profile political figure.
(END VIDEOTAPE) LAVANDERA: And, just a short while ago, the chief deputy in Kenedy County, at the sheriff's department there, announced that the investigation has wrapped up, that this is officially an accident -- but, along the way, the chief deputy making the point of saying that they found no evidence of alcohol being involved, or that -- they found no evidence of misconduct by anyone in the hunting party -- Paula.
ZAHN: Ed Lavandera, thanks so much for the update.
So, the question tonight is, why did it take nearly 24 hours for the news of the shooting accident to get out? The president's top spokesman wasn't even told until Sunday morning. And he got clobbered at today's press briefing for sticking to his story of what happened and when.
We asked White House correspondent Dana Bash to take us beyond the headlines for a look at how the news was managed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vice President Cheney came back to work today to find a White House under fire over why it took nearly 24 hours to alert the public that he shot a man.
MCCLELLAN: You can always look -- you can always looks back at these issues and look at how to do a better job.
QUESTION: It's not really a hindsight issue here.
BASH: It was 5:30 p.m. Saturday when Mr. Cheney, quail-hunting in Texas, accidentally shot Harry Whittington. But it did not become public until Sunday afternoon, and not by the vice president's office.
KATHARINE ARMSTRONG, RANCH OWNER: Mr. Whittington was in the -- in the line of fire and got peppered pretty well.
BASH: But by his host and an eyewitness, Katharine Armstrong, because, the White House insists, the vice president himself personally made a decision to defer to her.
MCCLELLAN: And the vice president felt that Mrs. Armstrong should be the first one to go out there and provide that information.
BASH: They did not even discuss making the incident public until Sunday morning, when Armstrong says she told the vice president she would call her local paper, and he agreed. The story appeared on the "Corpus Christi Caller" Web site Sunday afternoon. The Associated Press got wind about 3:00 p.m. Sunday, and it was not until about a half-an-hour later, nearly a day after the incident, Mr. Cheney's office confirmed he shot Mr. Whittington, and gave CNN and others Armstrong's number for details.
MCCLELLAN: I think that the first priority was making sure that Harry Whittington, Mr. Whittington, was getting the medical care that he needed.
BASH: In a highly contentious briefing, the president's spokesman tried to explain why the White House did not release the information itself and sooner. But, in a striking move, Scott McClellan made clear it was not his call or how he would handle it.
MCCLELLAN: ... position like mine, I was urging that that information be made available as quickly as possible. And the Vice President's Office was working to get that information out.
BASH: The president was informed at about 8:00 p.m. Saturday night. But, in fact, McClellan himself did not know the details of the incident until Sunday morning.
Longtime friend and former Senator Alan Simpson concedes, it is a window into how Mr. Cheney operates.
ALAN SIMPSON, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: He has always been tight- lipped with the media. He -- he has never been expansive with the media. What is new?
BASH: In fact, the vice president's office routinely refuses to say where he is or provide details even of regular workday meetings or recreation trips out of Washington, and have waited hours to acknowledge he has been hospitalized.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: And, Paula, apparently, tonight, we have word that the vice president wasn't hunting legally. He was missing, according to the vice president's office, a $7 stamp, and he's going to get a warning from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The vice president's office says that his staff actually asked if he was -- had the proper licensing and was told, yes, but it turns out he did not.
So, he is going to send a $7 check to the state of Texas -- Paula.
ZAHN: All right. Dana, what I really need your help with tonight is -- is understanding what the heck is going on here, communications-wise. We know that the vice president's staff is notoriously tight-lipped, as he is.
And, yet, at this press briefing, Scott McClellan, the guy running it, kept on directing reporters to ask questions of the vice president's staff.
BASH: That's right.
ZAHN: So, what -- what is that all about?
BASH: Well, to try to explain it, the -- the -- Scott McClellan is the president's spokesman. The vice president and his staff very much operate -- they operate in their own world, Paula.
And this incident really exposed that, particularly, as you mentioned, listening to Scott McClellan today. There are times when the White House staff, the president's staff, doesn't necessarily know when the vice president is going to make particular speeches or say certain things, do certain things.
And it really does come from the top down. The vice president has been certainly controversial since day one, operates very quietly, likes to do so under the radar. And, if you talk to his former staffers, they say he actually acts as his own staffer. He was a former chief of staff to President Ford.
And, in this particular incident -- particular incident, it is very clear that he personally made the decision to delay the news...
ZAHN: All right.
BASH: ... he says because it was -- it was his friend that was involved.
ZAHN: Dana, you got 10 seconds left. Is anybody getting in trouble here, then, if the vice president is the guy that was in charge of this operation?
BASH: Probably not.
You know, the vice president acts the way he acts. And if you talk to his friends, they say it is not likely that he is going to change.
He has been operating this way for quite a number of years, and he doesn't have political aspirations. So, the political pressure on him probably won't make any difference.
ZAHN: Dana Bash, thanks so much.
Now, today's White House press briefing was certainly a free-for- all, if any you caught it. You got just a little bit of a taste of it in Dana Bash's report. There were a total of 65 questions about the shooting accident today. And the give-and-take between Scott McClellan and the press corps hardly ever gets this rough.
Here's a little more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCLELLAN: Jessica (ph).
QUESTION: Scott, would -- you...
(CROSSTALK)
MCCLELLAN: Keeping with the practice of at least two or three reporters from each news organization today.
QUESTION: You've repeatedly said that the Vice President's Office will share this information with us. Will you tell us -- will you now ask them to share this information with us, because they're not?
MCCLELLAN: Share what information?
QUESTION: Details of what happened...
MCCLELLAN: I don't know that the way you character...
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: ... and more information.
MCCLELLAN: Well, Mrs. Armstrong provided that information.
QUESTION: It also sounds as though your suggestions about how to handle this were disregarded by the vice president's Office.
MCCLELLAN: Again, I will -- I will keep those conversations private.
QUESTION: Is it proper for the vice president to offer his resignation or has he offered his resignation?
MCCLELLAN: That's an absurd question. I'm -- go ahead, Ken (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: So the question tonight is, how long will this story stay at this boiling point?
Joining me now from Washington is Bay Buchanan -- she's president of the American Cause -- who believes the vice president handled this appropriately. And with me here in New York is Katrina Vanden Heuvel, who is editor of "The Nation," who is outraged by the way this was made public.
Good to see both of you. So...
BAY BUCHANAN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN CAUSE: Thanks, Paula.
ZAHN: Thank you, Bay.
I am going to start with you tonight.
Isn't this really about the issue of secrecy and the fact that the American public didn't even know the vice president had shot someone until 24 hours after it happened? How do you defend that?
BUCHANAN: Well -- well, first of all, the vice president was -- was as a private citizen. He was down there in Texas hunting. He didn't have staff. He didn't have any traveling press. And he chose -- obviously, his first concern.
I'm sure he was absolutely distraught. You can imagine yourself if you accidentally shot somebody. So, personally, I'm sure all he cared about and all he's concerned about is making certain that this person was fine. He did that. He went to the hospital on Sunday morning.
And, then, he decided that the best person to handle it was an eyewitness, so that he wouldn't be -- he probably himself doesn't know exactly how it happened, when these things kind of -- you kind of go over in your mind. I'm sure he blames himself.
But I see no problem. He -- he's the vice president. He's not the president. This is not a national security or a national issue. It is just of interest to the press, and they were scooped by a local paper, and that's what makes the national press so upset.
ZAHN: Katrina, react to the core of her argument...
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: ... that it was fine for the vice president to designate a private person to break this story.
KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL, EDITOR, "THE NATION": Paula, I think that...
ZAHN: Is that what you have a problem with?
VANDEN HEUVEL: I think -- I think this is emblematic of the way this administration, and particularly Vice President Cheney, has managed, manipulated and suppressed the news and intelligence, and gotten away with it, with an arrogant belief that they don't deserve scrutiny, accountability, oversight.
Imagine, think...
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: All right. But -- but come back to the -- does this involve a national security issue?
VANDEN HEUVEL: This is a security -- Paula...
ZAHN: And is -- the obligation of the vice president is different with this story than another story?
VANDEN HEUVEL: This is a security-obsessed administration, and you are telling me that you have a vice president who has shot a man, under any circumstance. This is news that is not relevant to the public interest?
It took this administration 24 hours. And the president, in a security-obsessed atmosphere and administration, didn't learn of this...
BUCHANAN: You know...
VANDEN HEUVEL: ... until the next morning?
BUCHANAN: Katrina -- Katrina...
VANDEN HEUVEL: Please.
BUCHANAN: What...
VANDEN HEUVEL: This is just arrogance on the part of an administration which has gotten away with manipulating...
BUCHANAN: Katrina...
VANDEN HEUVEL: ... suppressing, and managing...
BUCHANAN: Katrina...
VANDEN HEUVEL: ... news and information for too long. There are too many citizens who deserve better.
ZAHN: Bay, do you...
BUCHANAN: This is -- yes, go ahead.
ZAHN: Do you think the American public was entitled to an explanation long before the 24 hours lapsed...
BUCHANAN: No.
ZAHN: ... after this accident?
BUCHANAN: I...
ZAHN: And why not?
BUCHANAN: I think -- because I think the American people, this is an -- obviously, a story of interest.
Obviously, it is a tragic story. I think a key issue here that has been overlooked is, how is the -- how is the vice president responding? This is a terrible accident, a terrible thing that happened. And he has to deal with this.
ZAHN: He's not saying anything, Bay.
BUCHANAN: Of course he's not saying anything, because I'm sure has internalized it. He has thought this thing through. And -- and he has been -- been, I'm sure, shaken to the very bone, just like any of us would have been.
But this -- does it matter that the American people learned it 12 hours after that you all think they should have known? Absolutely not.
ZAHN: But, Bay...
BUCHANAN: This was a private incident.
ZAHN: Bay, very -- very quickly here, in closing, Scott McClellan, at the White House briefing, is leading reporters of the vice president's office to get information. They're saying nothing. BUCHANAN: Well...
ZAHN: Just a very brief rejoinder to that.
BUCHANAN: I -- I -- I agree.
The vice president's office now has a responsibility to get out the information as it occurred. I agree there. And they -- and they should. But it -- the story is closed. It is over. The investigation is done. We all know what happened.
And you all can make it a four-day story all you like. But it is -- it is now going to go to the late-night shows.
ZAHN: And what about the argument that Democrats are just going use this to dump all over the vice president, Katrina, to paint him as an untrustworthy kind of guy?
VANDEN HEUVEL: This is not a Democratic-Republican matter.
BUCHANAN: Exactly.
VANDEN HEUVEL: When it comes to public information, when it comes to how the public interest is served, this administration has failed on every single count, the reckless incompetence, the reckless management and manipulation of news.
BUCHANAN: You have got to relax, Katrina. This is not that big of an issue.
VANDEN HEUVEL: That is for the late-night show hosts.
BUCHANAN: Private matter.
VANDEN HEUVEL: This is for the public interest, Bay, which you don't seem to care that much about.
ZAHN: All right, you two. We are going to have to leave it there.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAHN: Bay Buchanan...
BUCHANAN: It's a human interest story, Katrina.
ZAHN: ... Katrina Vanden Heuvel...
VANDEN HEUVEL: Thank you, Paula.
ZAHN: ... appreciate both of your perspectives tonight.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Meanwhile, records in Texas show that a typical hunting accident doesn't involve novices, but people who have been hunting for at least a decade. So, what are the dangers that can trip up even experienced hunters?
Rick Sanchez takes us on to a hunting preserve coming up next.
And there is another hunting controversy in America, this one involving children. When it comes to guns, just how young is too young?
And I want you to take a close look at this woman. Do you think she needs a nose job? Well, she did one. Then, she did two, and she did three. And that is just for starters. What else did she have done long before her 30 birthday?
And, right now, more than 19 million of you checked out CNN.com today.
Our countdown of the top 10 most popular stories starts with the movie that won the box office race this weekend, "The Pink Panther," starring Steve Martin.
And, at number nine, the latest church burning in Alabama -- agents say the 10th fire is arson. There is a lot more on the investigation, plus, numbers seven and eight on our countdown straight ahead.
We will be right back. Please stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: We move on now to more on that shooting of a fellow hunter by Vice President Cheney.
It's a pretty good bet most of us have never been on a quail hunt. So, what exactly goes on in the field, and how could something like this have happened?
We sent Rick Sanchez out to check it out. And despite all those wide-open spaces, he did find some surprising dangers.
So, Rick, did you see anything on this hunt today that sheds a little bit of light of what might have happened over the weekend with the vice president...
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly do.
ZAHN: ... an experienced hunter?
SANCHEZ: Oh, absolutely.
And -- and when you consider some of the information that we are learning about what went on with Mr. Cheney's particular hunt, for example, Paula, you and many of the viewers watching us right now, have you ever looked into a low sun? Have you ever tried to hit a tennis ball or a golf ball into the sun, and noticed how hard it is to pick it out, or trying to catch a -- a fly ball, if you're playing baseball? The sun certainly can obstruct your view. Now, consider, also, that you have a -- a hunter who is in a low- lying area, and the brush is high. And now add to that the fact that, according to reports, the hunter had not yet disclosed his location. In fact, if we learn anything when we go out with many of these hunters and see exactly what it is they do, I was surprised how often many of them decide not to take a shot.
In other words, they had the bird in sight, and they could take a shot and probably bring the quail down using their shot, but they don't, because they figure it is not just the right time, and there might be an area there where they could possibly shoot a -- a dog that is usually used on the hunt, a vehicle, or, you know, heaven forbid, a person.
ZAHN: (AUDIO GAP) through some of the safety precautions you used today to keep all of you -- you who were out there hunting safe.
SANCHEZ: Well, some of things that they do -- as a matter of fact, when we went out there today -- and this is, I think, one of the questions that -- and I'm not sure it has been answered, because we have been working on this story all day -- and, you know, you have been following this there in New York carefully -- as to whether or not the guide -- and one of the things I learned out here today, going on a hunt with these guys, is how important the position and the perspective of the guide is.
It is up to the guide to warn the hunters about what they're supposed to be doing, about what the conditions are out there, and to always have in mind exactly where all the hunters are.
In fact, when we were out there today, we heard the guide say to all the hunters: I want you to tell me where you are at all times. It is important for me to tell the other hunters.
I'm not sure if that took place when we were out -- when Mr. Cheney was hunting in Texas or not. But, to a certain degree, it is important for the guide to be able to help the other hunters get a lay of the land, if you will.
ZAHN: So, Rick, very quickly, in closing, how dangerous is this sport?
SANCHEZ: Well, actually, the statistics show that it has been getting less dangerous.
Maybe part of it is because there have been fewer hunters. Two thousand four stats show us there were 445 incidents in total. Four hundred and three were nonfatal accidents. Forty-two were fatal. When it comes to quail hunting, it's a million-dollar industry -- industry -- if not a multimillion-dollar industry. And there are more and more people, at least in these parts, like in the South, coming to preserves like the one I'm in -- I'm in here, the Southern Woods Plantation, coming to hunt. They pay a lot of money, and they get -- they bag their birds -- Paula.
ZAHN: Rick Sanchez, thank you so much for the primer. Appreciate it.
And even though millions of Americans are avid hunters, what about the next generation? How young is too young to get children interested in stalking prey with a gun? That's next.
And, then, we have for you a "Mystery of the Mind" tonight. Why did this woman think she needed a nose job, or two, or three, and a whole lot more?
Before that, numbers eight and seven on our CNN.com countdown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Welcome back.
Vice President Cheney is just one of the 13 million Americans or so who hunt for recreation. And most of them never get hurt. But the sport is attracting fewer people these days, and that has the hunting industry worried, and trying to recruit more kids to carry guns and join the hunt. But is it safe for a child to pull the trigger?
In tonight's "Eye Opener," Jonathan Freed goes along on a hunt with children.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREED (voice-over): Before dawn on the plains of Montana, it's cold, and so is Danielle Faechner. She's a bit sleepy, too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go right down the fence line. There's two deer standing down there.
FREED: But it doesn't matter, because Danielle is being driven by the excitement of a rite of passage. She recently turned 12 and can now hunt legally in the state, along with her father, Steve, and her 13-year-old sister, Serena.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: See the deer. You see the white spot?
FREED: They are stalking deer.
(on camera): What did it feel like the first time that you held a gun?
DANIELLE FAECHNER, 12-YEAR-OLD HUNTER: It was kind of scary, but then you get used to it.
FREED: Scary "Oh, my God, I have a science test that I didn't study for"?
D. FAECHNER: Different kind of scary, like knowing that that could kill something.
FREED (voice-over): The Faechner girls are serious about hunting. It provides food, lets them spend time with their family and connect to its history. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, let's take this box.
FREED: The girls use their great-grandfather's guns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see it?
FREED: This time, it's big sister Serena who ends up making a kill...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got him.
FREED: ... and gets to pose for the trophy photo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look right over here.
FREED (on camera): There are a lot of people who, you know, their -- their biggest thing that they are waiting for is to get their driver's license. That's next, I'm guessing, for the two of you.
SERENA FAECHNER, 13-YEAR-OLD HUNTER: I want that, too, yes. It would be nice.
(LAUGHTER)
FREED: But if you had to choose between the two?
S. FAECHNER: I would choose hunting.
D. FAECHNER: You can't eat a car. You can eat a deer.
(LAUGHTER)
FREED (voice-over): The guy with the video camera is Kevin Hoyt. He's a friend of the family and a crusader for the cause of hunting.
KEVIN HOYT, THE FUTURE OF HUNTING: We're fighting a losing battle. We're in the 11th hour. And we have got to do something now, if we're even going to have a prayer of trying to save and preserve this wonderful sport.
FREED: Hoyt says hunting is in crisis because not enough families are like the Faechners, passing the sport down to their kids.
During the 1980s, about 17 million people called themselves hunters. But the hunting industry says the number of hunters in America is now dropping and that hunting could virtually vanish from America by mid-century if something isn't done to save it.
(on camera): What would be missing from society if hunting, as it's been...
HOYT: Stopped?
FREED: Stopped.
HOYT: Discipline, patience, respect. There's a number of things that come from hunting. When you spend time with a kid in the woods, it's the perfect time to talk to your kids about sex or drugs or all the other important issues out there. And it's -- it's an opportunity for your kids to talk back.
RICK STORY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES SPORTSMEN'S ALLIANCE: About half the hunting population, roughly 45 percent, are between the ages of 35 and 54. That's older than we would like it to be.
FREED: Rick Story is with the United States Sportsmen's alliance, a group that has joined with other pro-hunting organizations to fund youth recruitment drives and to push for the loosening of state laws limiting children's participation in hunting. Story says the biggest obstacle to recruitment is the 20 states that are keeping kids out of camouflage by setting minimum-age requirements, many at 12 years old.
Story calls it arbitrary.
STORY: For some children, you know, it might be 7 or 8. You know, for other children, it might be 9 or 10. But shouldn't it be a parent, and not the government, that makes that determination?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Want to get a big one?
JONATHAN WEICHMAN, 9-YEAR-OLD HUNTER: Yes.
FREED: Jonathan Weichman is only 9, and he's out hunting for the first time during a youth hunting weekend put on by the state of Ohio.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead there, buddy.
FREED: He's revved up and ready to go.
WEICHMAN: I like sitting here waiting to see a deer come up, and then taking the shot, and just -- it just makes me happy to see it go down.
FREED: Studies show, the younger hunters start, the more likely they are to stick with the sport.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When do you take your safety off?
WEICHMAN: I'm getting ready to shoot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mmm-hmm.
FREED: Supporters insist it's safe.
HOYT: Ping-Pong has more injuries than hunting does.
FREED (on camera): Yes, but if an accident happens in hunting, it tends to be larger than a Ping-Pong accident, no?
HOYT: That is very true, but, because of guys like myself, the thousands of volunteer hunter education instructors spread all across the country, hunting incidents are at an all-time low right now.
HEIDI PRESCOTT, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR CAMPAIGNS, HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES: Children and young adolescents lack the emotional maturity to be able make that split-second decision of when to fire a gun. These are all pretty much hunting accidents that have taken place...
FREED (voice-over): Heidi Prescott of the Humane Society of the United States argues that, if we have age limits for driver's licenses, we should have them for a sport involving firearms, and it should be at least 15 or 16 years old.
(on camera): Their argument is that younger hunters are statistically the safer hunters because of the supervision.
PRESCOTT: Even one hunting accident is one accident too many. And, already this year, there's been hunting accidents where youth were involved. So, it's -- it's not a safe sport.
FREED (voice-over): Despite predictions by anti-hunting groups that the sport is doomed, no matter what's done to try to save it, the hunting industry is determined to encourage the next generation.
Nine-year-old Jonathan didn't bag a deer on his first day out, but he did spot a doe. He fired, but the animal escaped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good job, Peter.
FREED: Five other kids in town were successful shots, like 11- year-old Tina (ph) .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You shot it with what?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Twenty-gauge.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty-gauge shotgun.
FREED: ...who named her 200 pound buck Bob.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn't matter if it is big or not. It just matters that you had fun and you got your first deer.
FREED: Back in Montana, the Faechners are dining out on their children's shooting success. They have put venison on the table, and it is food this family does not take for granted.
(on-camera): Is this something that you want to pass down to your kids?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely.
FREED: Really? You know that already?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
FREED: Jonathan FREED, CNN, Havre, Montana. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And when we come back, we are going to change our focus quite a bit. This woman had her first plastic surgery at age 19 and dozens of them since then. When did it stop?
And later, have you remembered a Valentine for man's best friend?
But now, number six and five on our CNN.com countdown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Tonight the hunt is on in Alabama for suspects in arson fires at 10 churches. Investigators say they have found a lot of good forensic evidence at the last fire at the Beaverton Freewill Baptist Church. And eyewitnesses actually saw someone leave the church as the fire started.
Rusty Dornin has been following this story, and she has just filed tonight's "Outside the Law."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Ten fires at 10 churches. A mountain of evidence left in some, bits in others. Each one telling a different story.
By the time firefighters got to the Morning Star Baptist Church in Boligee, Alabama, there was nothing really left to save. When there is only soot and ash, the arson dogs can prove invaluable.
The same night the Morning Star Church was destroyed, so was the Galilee Baptist Church about 30 miles away. Ricky Farley trains law enforcement dogs to sniff out arson evidence. He came with us to Galilee.
(on-camera): When you bring the dogs into a church like this that is completely burned to the ground, what are they looking for?
RICKY FARLEY, ARSON DOG TRAINER: Just any minute traces of sediments that may not have burned during the fire. You know, a dog can detect one fifth of a needle drop of accelerant. So these flags could represent where a dog may have indicated the arson investigators may have saw something that they marked.
DORNIN (voice over): Galilee mystified investigators because it was so remote, only one way in and one way out. No easy getaways here. That was another reason to believe the arsonists are locals well acquainted with the back roads.
In the wee hours the same night Morning Star and Galilee burned, a fire started at the Dancy Baptist Church about 10 miles away.
(on-camera): Investigators believe this is the footprint of one of the arsonists, that they kicked the door open to the church, which triggered the alarm and saved this church from burning to the ground. (voice over): It also allowed investigators to find a lot of evidence in tact.
REV. WALTER HAWKINS, DANCY CHURCH: They believe it started from the pulpit area, which is right here.
DORNIN: Reverend Walter Hawkins knows more than many of the pastors about what happened at his church.
(on-camera): Have they told you anything about how this started?
HAWKINS: No more than just started from the pulpit area. There was a communion table that was along the back of the chairs, which is no longer available. So we don't know...
DORNIN: That's where it started.
HAWKINS: Exactly.
DORNIN (voice over): But one of the most intriguing clues came after the arsonists lit the blaze. Investigators believe they tried to escape out the front door.
HAWKINS: Apparently they came out this way, tried to push on the door, but it wouldn't open because it was dead bolt, and they couldn't get out. So they apparently had to go out the other door where the other handprint was.
DORNIN: Two hand prints cut out by ATF investigators, not just physical evidence. Authorities used the incident in appealing to the arsonists to contact them, telling the suspects they understood. Things must have become very frightening for them inside the church that morning.
JIM CAVENAUGH, ATF INVESTIGATOR: We think they might have been caught in there, probably slow to get out. I think it might have got a little smoky on them, a little hot. You know, some evidence in there that maybe a door stuck and maybe they were in there longer than they thought. These things can flip on you. They can be trapped and killed.
DORNIN: Investigators say they're looking for two men in their 20's or 30's, strong enough to kick down a door, agile enough to escape a raging fire.
Authorities admit it is a struggle to decide which clues to release to the public and which ones they need to keep close to the vest. As they try and solve this puzzle and stop these crimes before someone gets hurt.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Dancy, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And we move on now. When you look into the mirror, are you happy with what you see? Well, this young woman wasn't. What did she do about it? Well, a couple dozen times, it is a mystery of the mind.
And a little later on, a big fuss over some dogs. Are these guys gorgeous or what?
Before that number four in our CNN.com countdown, our top story, the vice president accidentally shoots a fellow quail hunter, and now a lot of people are asking why it took nearly 24 hours to tell the public anything about it.
We'll have number three right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: All right, for all of you who don't want to be in trouble tomorrow, remember Valentine's Day just a few hours away. But love doesn't just exist in the two-legged world. Our Jeanne Moos investigated romance among our four-legged friends.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dogs don't appreciate roses on Valentine's Day. But when a Westminster Dog Show and Valentine's Day overlap, we had to ask.
(on camera): Has Kallie (ph) ever been in love, do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
MOOS: Has Norman (ph) been in love?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, as a matter of fact, he's in love with my daughter's Pointer right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he's got a girlfriend that lives right down the street. His tail goes like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a lover to begin with.
MOOS: I can tell. Look at him. He's coming on already.
(voice-over): Maybe we've all seen too many movies, movies where it's love at first sight or love at first bite. But do dogs really fall for each other?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My big daddy, aren't you?
MOOS: Do they fall for us? The author of "If Only They Could Speak" and "The Dog Who Loved Too Much" says most dog behaviorists are skeptics.
DR. NICHOLAS DODMAN, VETERINARY BEHAVIORIST: The romantic hormones flowing, heart beating, veins pulsing type love, I don't believe they experience that.
MOOS: But it's hard to draw the line between puppy love and lust. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not that kind of Spaniel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, baby.
MOOS (on camera): So he's a love them and leave them kind of guy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm pretty sure he is. Hello and good bye.
MOOS (voice-over): Dog behaviorists do believe dogs form strong bonds. Norman even cuddles with his main squeeze.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She'll lay down on the bed and he'll kind of spoon her.
MOOS: And then there was the Great Dane who took great pains to comfort this woman's dying dog.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And she would go every night and she would sit with him, she would clean his ears, she would kiss him all through her mouth.
MOOS: As for the bond dogs form with their owners, we found this woman inside her dog's cage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's going in the ring so I give him a little massage and there was no room out there.
MOOS: Dog behaviorists say 15 percent of dogs in America have separation anxiety, whipping themselves into a frenzy when their owner leaves. Eices (ph) here is an extreme case.
DODMAN: The neighbors, they heard this crash and they came around to the house and they saw all these jagged piece of glass all covered in blood. And what it was, the dog had gone out the window and cut itself on the glass. But they thought it was a murder so they called the police.
MOOS: The dog, by the way, survived.
DODMAN: Some kind of love that is.
MOOS: Looks more like the Valentine's Day massacre. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And when we come back, you're about to meet a woman who was not very happy with her body or her face. So guess how much she has spent for a few nips and tucks? Like a couple dozen of them, $10,000? Not even close. We're going to tell you after Erica Hill and the "Headline News Business Break."
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
ZAHN: And we're all going to be running around the block, we hope to burn it off. Erica Hill, thanks so much. You're about to meet a woman who is only 29-years-old but she has had 30 plastic surgery procedures. Does she really want more?
And just ahead on "LARRY KING LIVE," the inside stories of the last minutes of Flight 93.
First though, No. 3 on our CNN.com countdown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Tonight we have one of the more incredible mysteries of the mind. Now everyone probably has something they'd like to change about their looks. But recently I heard about an attractive young woman who has spent enormous amounts of money and gone to extremes to improve a face and body most people would already consider beautiful.
And here is the medical mystery. She is never, ever satisfied with the result. Her name is Jenny Lee and I went to find out for myself what led to this obsession with perfection.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JENNY LEE, PLASTIC SURGERY: I wanted to look in the mirror and say today, you look OK. Not great, not fantastic, not beautiful, not gorgeous, nothing like that. Just wanted to be OK. That's all I wanted.
ZAHN: It's hard to believe that this beautiful young woman ever could have felt that way. Jenny Lee Burton (ph) was so striking as a teenager that her family and friends told her she looked like Julia Roberts. This is Jenny Lee Burton (ph) today. She bears little resemblance to the girl in the picture. At 29, Jenny has had 30 cosmetic procedures.
(on camera): So Jenny, I have seen pictures of you before you ever had your first surgical procedure and you were stunning.
LEE: Thanks.
ZAHN: What do you think you looked like back then?
LEE: I thought I was a really pretty girl. I had more boys chasing at me than I could shake a stick at.
ZAHN (voice-over): Jenny began a relationship with a young man who she eventually married. She says he picked apart her physical features and caused her to question her self worth. As the relationship progressed, Jenny lost more and more confidence in her appearance.
At the age of 19, instead of changing the relationship, Jenny decided to change herself. She went to a plastic surgeon.
ZAHN (on camera): What was the first thing you had done?
LEE: The first thing that I did was my breasts. I went in and had a breast augmentation because I felt like of all of the things that I had been criticized, that was the thing that I felt I could benefit the most from.
ZAHN: And then did you like what you saw in the mirror?
LEE: I liked my breasts. I did my nose at the same time. I did full body liposuction at the same time. I was fairly happy there for a little while.
ZAHN (voice-over): But after that first experience with the magic of plastic surgery, Jenny Lee felt she could look even better. She took her daughter and left her husband behind. But not the plastic surgeon.
There were cheek implants, two different kinds of lip implants, new teeth, Botox injections, and two more nose jobs to narrow and straighten her nose.
(on camera): But in having these three nose jobs, you really did destroy your nose.
LEE: Mm-hmm. I can't blow my nose like a normal person. I can't breathe very well out of it.
ZAHN (voice-over): Trying to make ends meet as a single mom and to support her growing dependence on surgery, Jenny took weekend jobs as a waitress. She lived on peanut butter sandwiches. Ironically she met and married another man who felt she was perfect just the way she was. But that unconditional love wasn't enough.
Jenny decided on her most serious procedure yet. A brow lift and invasive surgery in which she would be cut literally from ear to ear. The muscles that cause furrows and lines in the brow are removed or altered to raise the eyebrows, erasing any lines.
(on camera): But that's a procedure that a lot of women put off until they're in their 50s and 60s. You did that when you were 25 years old.
LEE: I call that preventive maintenance.
ZAHN: Very early preventive maintenance.
LEE: Yes.
ZAHN: And you never had any sense of self-consciousness about what the heck am I doing? I'm in my 20s? I haven't even aged yet and I'm doing this.
LEE: I did after I came out of surgery and I realized I had just been sliced from ear to ear because I was real casual about it. I said, sounds great. Go ahead with it. Didn't ask what this entailed. And when I woke up, my husband went -- and it looked like I had been in a massive car wreck because I had black eyes and I had this splint on my nose and my lips were like, you know, huge because, you know, they were swollen, my whole face was swollen. But I looked back at it now and think it was one of the greatest things that I did. I did it at 25 years old.
ZAHN (voice-over): Whatever pushed a beautiful young girl to such extremes, Jenny is certainly not alone. Our obsession with beauty and quick fixes has been steadily growing.
In 2004, Americans spent more than $12 billion on cosmetic procedures. And in the past nine years, there has been a 465 percent increase in the number of cosmetic procedures. But Jenny finally discovered that her burning need to change her appearance was far more than just a preoccupation.
She says she was diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder or BDD, a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Patients like Jenny literally become obsessed with minor physical flaws.
ZAHN (on camera): I think as people listen to you tonight, they're going to be surprised by what they see as a disconnect. They see this very attractive woman, who is thoughtful, intelligent, and then the flip side of this is how can she be so self-indulgent and why doesn't she see what we see.
LEE: There is a disconnect in your brain that prevents you from seeing what everybody else sees. And, you know, trying to fix that is the mystery.
I can tell you that when I look at pictures, it is like I'm looking at someone else. Because I'll go, wow, that's a really pretty girl. I find all of the positive things about it. The problem that I have is when I'm looking in the mirror and it is just me in the mirror and I don't see the same things that the camera gives back to me.
ZAHN (voice-over): Jenny says that she's learned some techniques from her psychiatrist to help change her thinking about her appearance. But performing plastic surgery on patients like Jenny is causing some doctors to be very concerned.
DR. ALAN GOLD, PLASTIC SURGEON: So for a 29-year-old who had so many of those procedures, unfortunately who may be looking over operated upon, I think it is irresponsible on the part of the surgeon or the surgeons not to have stopped her at some point and have looked to what the deeper problem might be in all of this.
ZAHN: Dr. Alan gold is a plastic surgeon and associate professor of surgery at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
GOLD: If we would decide that a patient was suspect for having something like a body dysmorphic disorder, it would be absolutely unconscionable to operate on that patient and that's a patient that should be turned down.
ZAHN: The retail price of Jenny's new face and body comes with a staggering price tag. So far, about $100,000. And it is no wonder, over the last ten years, she's had 30 procedures. Here is the complete list.
She's had cheek implants, two kinds of lip implants, veneers, Botox, three nose jobs, a brow lift, steroid injects, lip enhancement, two breast augmentations, three breast lifts, full body liposuction including arms, stomach, abs, legs, and knees. And even though her husband insists that she stop, as incredible as it seems, Jenny still wants more.
(on camera): Do you think there will ever be a time when you're going to accept the way you look and like how you look?
LEE: There may be a time like that. But I don't think it will be anytime in the next 20, 30 years.
ZAHN: Where does this need to continually change yourself come from?
LEE: It is a battle with me and my reflection. I'm very secure in who I am. I know who I am as a person, what kind of person I am. But this battle with my reflection and my appearance is steady and it won't go away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Jenny Lee's daughter says she likes the results. She thinks it makes her mom look like a Barbie doll.
Coming up on "LARRY KING LIVE," from the victim's families, the inside story of flight 93. First, number two on our CNN.com countdown. Number one is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Number one on our countdown, yesterday's Nor'easter.
Thanks for joining us. Good night.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
