Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

New 9/11 Commission Report Outlines Logistics of Attack; Olympics Update

Aired August 22, 2004 - 08:00   ET

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

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


BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And the next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING begins right now so stick around.
From CNN Center here in Atlanta this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is August 22nd and I'm Betty Nguyen.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Drew Griffin. We have a lot for you this morning. First up, stories now in the news.

Two new reports from the panel investing September 11th outlined the logistics of those terrorists attacks. The commission officially disbanded yesterday, but the new reports detail how 19 hijackers were funded and how all 19 of them violated U.S. immigration laws in some way.

A Vietnam vet, who had been advising the Bush campaign, has left his post there. Ken Cordier is his name. He appeared in two different commercials attacking John Kerry's service record during the Vietnam war. The Bush camp saying it was unaware Cordier was part of the group putting together the anti-Kerry diatribe.

Armed men stormed an art museum in Norway today. While it was open, the gun toting thieves made off with at least two works by artist Edvard Munch, including "The Scream" and "Madonna." Police say the paintings were yanked off the wall of Oslo's Munch's Museum in front of shocked patrons. It's the second time in 10 years that "The Scream" or at least one of the two has been stolen.

The U.S. women's softball team earns a win against Australia. They're cooking. Semifinal round of the summer games. They earn a shot now at the gold medal tomorrow. Japan will match up against Australia for the other spot in tomorrow's final.

Keeping you informed, CNN the most trusted name in news.

NGUYEN: We'll soon find out who gets to be called the fastest man in the world. We have an Olympic sized update just ahead from Athens. Also, a hospital immobilized by Hurricane Charley makes an amazing recovery. We'll get an update from Florida.

Plus, are you always looking for a bargain? I know I am. How does free sound, Drew? We'll meet a woman who organized an innovative way to recycle that's helps the environment and your bottom line.

GRIFFIN: First our top story this hour. The money trail leading to September 11th. The now disbanded 9/11 Commission has released two staff reports, additional reports. The details go beyond what was said in the Commission's final report and beyond what has been publicly known so far. Among the newly released material today the Visa application for 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is now in custody.

One staff reports states that all 19 hijackers were in violation of U.S. law, either entering or remaining in the U.S. The new information also explains that al Qaeda favored Saudi passports because of loopholes in the Saudi system.

The Commission staff further reports the hijackers were not employed or otherwise self financing. Nine eleven researchers estimate that al Qaeda spent about $300,000 in the United States to support them and up to a half million dollars in the operation in total. The staff reports also conclude the hijackers' financial support did not come directly from Osama bin Laden, but rather was raised from donors and sources outside the U.S.

NGUYEN: Attacks brought by Swift Boat Veterans have prompted a response from the Kerry campaign. And still, the Bush campaign denies any connection to the ads bashing the Democratic nominee. Jill Dougherty is watching this play out near the president's ranch in Crawford, and she joins us live with the latest there.

Good morning, Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty. Well, you know, it's a very complicated story. You almost have to map it out because there are a lot of developments. But we try to go through what has happened at least yesterday and early today.

Again, we're going back to 1969, that incident in Vietnam that John Kerry as a lieutenant was involved in. And then the current attack ads that have been going after the Democratic challenger on what he did and did he lie about what happened at that point.

And one of the important things is that things attack ads are having some affect. Polls show that they are hurting John Kerry, and that is why the Kerry campaign is trying to come back as quickly as it can.

Yesterday the vice presidential candidate for the Democrats, John Edwards, appealed, actually challenged President Bush said, "This is your moment of truth." And he said, "Take down these ads."

Now the Bush campaign and the White House have said that they do not have any connection. But the Democrats appealed to the Federal Election Commission. They charged that thee is a direct connection between the campaign and these Swift boat veterans for truth, as they are called, who put together those ads.

The Republicans, I should say, the Bush campaign wrote a letter yesterday to the FEC and they said, this is frivolous. You should dismiss it. Here's what they said in that letter. "Sadly, the Kerry campaign is misusing the Federal Election Commission's process to distract attention and gain free publicity concerning charges for which it publicly admits it has no evidence.

Meanwhile, some fallout from this. A member of a veterans coalition for Bush has quit from his position after appearing in a TV ad that blasted John Kerry for his involvement in Vietnam era anti-war protest. That is Air Force Colonel Ken Cordier, and the Bush camp says that they did not know that he was involved in that.

Finally, William Rood. Now William Rood came up yesterday. He is an editor for "The Chicago Tribune." He was in Vietnam, served with Kerry at that time and in fact, was on the river in Vietnam at the time that all of this happened. And he came out in a letter -- in an article in "The Chicago Tribune" saying that Kerry did deserve the Silver Star that he got.

So, if you can follow all of that -- finally, there was one more development and that is that the Kerry campaign now is saying, enough. We should end this. And they have a new ad coming out today which was a, let's get back to the issues -- Betty.

NGUYEN: So many ads. A lot of confusion and a lot of back and forth. All right. Jill Dougherty at Crawford, Texas outside the president's ranch there. Thank you -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: And we have more on what Jill was reporting about one of the skipper boat captains who has come out in defense. His name is William Rood. He's an editor with "The Chicago Tribune" and he asserts that Kerry deserves the Silver Star he was awarded for that ambush in Vietnam.

He writes in today's edition of the paper that "The critics have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts on the merit of what others did, but their version of events has splashed doubts on us all. It has gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were not there." That's William Rood, "The Chicago Tribune" today who apparently served with John Kerry in Vietnam.

NGUYEN: And all of this brings us to our e-mail question of the morning and it is, Swift boat ads, are they dirty politics or just politics as usual? We want to hear from you. Send us your responses to wam@cnn.com. We'll read those responses throughout the morning.

GRIFFIN: Later on CNN, more on campaign politicking with former presidential candidate and World War II veteran, Bob Dole. Tune in to "LATE EDITION" with Wolf Blitzer. That's at noon eastern time.

NGUYEN: For those of you just joining us here's what's happening. This Sunday morning in Iraq, bullets and bombs have been flying over night in Najaf. U.S. ground troops backed by AC-130 gun ships engaged Muqtada al Sadr's militia for about two hours. Iraqi officials report 49 Iraqis killed and 27 wounded.

The death threat against a captured journalist reportedly has been lifted. "The Associated Press" attributes that to an aid to cleric al Sadr. The "AP" quotes the aide saying, they hope they can secure Micah Garen's release today. Citing Italian news reports, the AP also says the body of he Iraqi translator kidnapped with Garen reportedly has been found.

And north of Baghdad two bodyguards of an Iraqi deputy governor were killed today by a car bomb. Seven other people were wounded. The Iraqi official had been targeted in another car bombing just two weeks ago.

Now for some other headlines across America today. Friends and family attended the funeral yesterday in Port St. John, Florida of an American kidnapped and beheaded in Saudi Arabia. Paul Johnson worked as a contractor for Lockheed Martin in Saudi for more than a decade. He was kidnapped back in June. Johnson's remains will be cremated and sent to Thailand where he ad his Thai wife had planned to move.

Charges following a deadly house fire in Philadelphia. Two firefighters died in the blaze on Friday, and this morning a man who allegedly caused that fire is facing murder charges. Prosecutors say the flames broke out among wires and lamps and man had set up to grow marijuana. Local residents say one of the dead fire fighters, John Taylor, tried to help his colleagues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She saved the one guy by telling him to leave when the problems happened, and he basically lost his life trying to rescue one of his own guys. So, he made the ultimate sacrifice. We -- you know, you go, we go. He stayed with his man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Meantime, what a mess at this New Hampshire camp ground. The owner says it will take another day or so to get it back to normal after a thunderstorm tore threw the Hampton Falls area Friday night trapping several campers. Ten people were injured including one in critical condition. The storm brought down trees and power lines and damaged vehicles as well as tents.

GRIFFIN: Still battered and bruised but open. A Florida hospital gets back into business. We're going to stop by one week after Charley paid a call.

NGUYEN: And halfway around the world, the race of all races happens today. You don't want to miss it. Find out why it's so important.

GRIFFIN: and head on HOUSE CALL this morning a look at what works and what doesn't work in the battle against hair loss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Kansas City this morning, good morning to you. Last night the city paid tribute to one of its greats, the jazz stylings of William "Count" Basie. Basie would have been 100 years old yesterday. So they celebrated his birthday with a little concert. The complete weather forecast coming up. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: It happened sooner than expected, a hospital in hurricane ravaged Florida town is opened again after a lot of work. CNN's Sara Dorsey has more from Punta Gorda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda is back in business, much to the surprise of some of its patients.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I thought I'd be going to a tent.

DORSEY: Instead of that, doctors checked out John Guilfoyle (ph) inside and then gave him the OK to go home. The hospital is not entirely back to normal or functioning fully. Less serious problems are being handled, but the staff says surgical and critical patients will have to get treatment somewhere else for the next couple of weeks.

Construction and electrical workers were still fixing some damage inside, while roofers repaired the layers that Charley carried away. Agnes Smith remembers hearing that noise very well. She rode out the storm on the third floor with 150 other people.

AGNES SMITH, HOSPITAL ASSISTANT: The next morning, when we opened these shutters, any my staff lives in those houses across the street, some of them, that's when the reality of it struck us.

DORSEY: The hospital survived battered, but not broken for good. Dr. Sophia Salmon Trajan was surprised to see the hospital working again so soon and said there's no doubt of the need.

DR. SALMON TRAJAN, CHARLOTTE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: It's busy. I mean, we're hopping. We just keep moving because if we don't then it's just going to be a backlog of patients.

DORSEY (on camera): It took crews working 24 hours a day an entire week to get this hospital up and running. The staff here says they're relieved to finally reach back out to a community that needs them so much.

Sara Dorsey, CNN, Punta Gorda, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Looks like a sunny day in Florida. Let's go to Rob Marciano with the national weather outlook.

(WEATHER REPORT)

GRIFFIN: The world's fasted man will be crowned at the 28th Olympiad. Today an American is looking to make history as only the second runner to defend his title. CNN's Mark McKay has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Each January there are 53 men declared Super Bowl champions. Each June 22 men get to lift the Stanley Cup, and in any moment there are as many as three heavy weight champions of the world. But once every four years, following an accomplishment completed in less than 10 seconds, one man is instantly separated from all others and granted a title beyond compare, the world's fastest man.

MARK LEWIS-FRANCIS, BRITISH SPRINTER: It's a great honor, to go out there and to be the fastest man in the world is every sprinters' dream and it would be the biggest achievement that you could go out there and do. .

JUSTIN GATLIN, U.S. SPRINTER: Being the fastest man in the world is a big responsibility. You have a duty to uphold and you have a lot of people who will look up to you and a lot of people who will come after you especially.

MCKAY: The gold meal awarded to the men's 100 meter champion brings prestige. The prestige brings notoriety, but the title, the title brings something at once more grand and more simple, the title says that man can do something that no other human on the planet can.

SHAWN CRAWFORD, U.S. SPRINTER: I'm trying to get -- reach in and pull out all of the potential that God has put within me. I just want to see how fast a human can actually run.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Being the world's fastest man doesn't mean that you go out there and run one fast time. You go out there and continuously run fast times, continuously beat everybody in the field.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: It's like you're sitting up there with your crown, like a king on a throne.

MCKAY (on camera): On Sunday the man on the throne will be attempting to retain it. Maurice Greene will try to become only the second sprinter to ever win consecutive gold medals in the 100 meters.

MAURICE GREENE, 100M OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: This year is going to solidify my place in my sport as the greatest of all time. In my time, I would say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's ran, what, 58, you know what I'm saying sub-10s in track and field. That's a great performance, a great career. But you have people who won nine gold medals and ran fast as that too.

GREEN: I have one thing on my mind and that's to continue training, continue working hard and to go pick up my gold medal.

MCKAY: The one reserved for the world's fastest man.

Mark McKay, CNN, Athens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: We'll see if it's that easy.

Well, all across the country people are banding together to trade their junk. Find out how it works and why it is so popular next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Hey, looking for a few books to read and you're a little short of cash? How about a free lawn mower or maybe, a donated car? Perhaps you're looking for some free video games for the kids. Welcome to freecycle.com. It's where you can go to search for things other people want to give you for free. Joining us right now to explain how this whole thing works is Robin Brown of freecycle.org.

Good morning, Robin. This sounds like...

ROBIN BROWN, FREECYCLE.ORG: Good morning.

GRIFFIN: ...this sounds like freebay. Does it really work?

BROWN: It really does work. We've got more than 4,008, no I'm sorry, 400,008 members all over the world in 74 countries and 65 groups in Canada and 1200 plus in the U.S.

GRIFFIN: What's the genesis? Why did this start up?

BROWN: It started out in Tucson, Arizona. A young man named Darren Bill, who worked for a recycle organization, decided that there would be a -- it would be a good thing for people to be able to give their items instead of just throwing them into the landfill. And so, Tucson was the first. That was May 2003, and the rest is growing topsy-turvy. It's up, up, up.

GRIFFIN: And what kind -- we're showing video of real junk. I assume your junk is better than this junk, but what kind of junk stuff is available and what's the most popular?

BROWN: Most popular is household items, people who are moving or they're closing down a parent's house or they're remodeling. They have things that they need to get rid of and they offer it on our local recycle groups. They're all on Yahoo! groups, and someone who needs a sofa or two by fours or dirt for their yard respond and between the two of them they arrange a time to transfer that item from one to the other.

GRIFFIN: Now are you talking facilitating local deliveries to each other or are people sending this through the mail and the shipping services?

BROWN: Very rarely would it be going outside the local original area. I have seen several out of the region requests. For instance last week on the D.C. list there was a woman who wanted Redskin memorabilia and she lives in Illinois, and she offered to pay the shipping.

GRIFFIN: So, it works that way. So otherwise this is like putting people together in various neighborhoods and various cities so that their stuff doesn't have to go tot he trash.

BROWN: Absolutely. We're trying to keep usable items out of the landfills. And he feeling that comes from it is it's good to give. It's a very good feeling. So you know that even though you have upgraded your item someone else is using your old item.

GRIFFIN: Robin Brown from freecycle.org, we thank you for joining us and good luck trading all of that stuff.

BROWN: Oh, we all have too much of it so somebody should get good use.

GRIFFIN: Thanks.

BROWN: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Isn't that the truth. Well, we've been asking for your responses, free of charge of course, to this question, our e-mail question of the day. Swift boat ads, are they dirty politics or politics as usual.

Ann Sam writes to us this morning and he says "Is the me -- it is the media that continues to keep the focus on the so-called Swift boat controversy. If you folks focus on issues instead of endless repetition perhaps the election preamble will develop more into something of real meaning.

GRIFFIN: Greg, watching in South Bend, Indiana, how do the Swift boat ads differ from the move on dotcom attacks? I think that's move on dotorg. It's politics as usual, says Greg.

And if you want to continue writing us on this question you can reach us at wam@cnn.com.

NGUYEN: If you count on overtime pay to make ends meet you might need to change your strategy. A look at who's affected by the new overtime rules. That's ahead next hour on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. We'll be right back with more stories in the news.

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


Aired August 22, 2004 - 08:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: And the next hour of CNN SUNDAY MORNING begins right now so stick around.
From CNN Center here in Atlanta this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. It is August 22nd and I'm Betty Nguyen.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Drew Griffin. We have a lot for you this morning. First up, stories now in the news.

Two new reports from the panel investing September 11th outlined the logistics of those terrorists attacks. The commission officially disbanded yesterday, but the new reports detail how 19 hijackers were funded and how all 19 of them violated U.S. immigration laws in some way.

A Vietnam vet, who had been advising the Bush campaign, has left his post there. Ken Cordier is his name. He appeared in two different commercials attacking John Kerry's service record during the Vietnam war. The Bush camp saying it was unaware Cordier was part of the group putting together the anti-Kerry diatribe.

Armed men stormed an art museum in Norway today. While it was open, the gun toting thieves made off with at least two works by artist Edvard Munch, including "The Scream" and "Madonna." Police say the paintings were yanked off the wall of Oslo's Munch's Museum in front of shocked patrons. It's the second time in 10 years that "The Scream" or at least one of the two has been stolen.

The U.S. women's softball team earns a win against Australia. They're cooking. Semifinal round of the summer games. They earn a shot now at the gold medal tomorrow. Japan will match up against Australia for the other spot in tomorrow's final.

Keeping you informed, CNN the most trusted name in news.

NGUYEN: We'll soon find out who gets to be called the fastest man in the world. We have an Olympic sized update just ahead from Athens. Also, a hospital immobilized by Hurricane Charley makes an amazing recovery. We'll get an update from Florida.

Plus, are you always looking for a bargain? I know I am. How does free sound, Drew? We'll meet a woman who organized an innovative way to recycle that's helps the environment and your bottom line.

GRIFFIN: First our top story this hour. The money trail leading to September 11th. The now disbanded 9/11 Commission has released two staff reports, additional reports. The details go beyond what was said in the Commission's final report and beyond what has been publicly known so far. Among the newly released material today the Visa application for 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is now in custody.

One staff reports states that all 19 hijackers were in violation of U.S. law, either entering or remaining in the U.S. The new information also explains that al Qaeda favored Saudi passports because of loopholes in the Saudi system.

The Commission staff further reports the hijackers were not employed or otherwise self financing. Nine eleven researchers estimate that al Qaeda spent about $300,000 in the United States to support them and up to a half million dollars in the operation in total. The staff reports also conclude the hijackers' financial support did not come directly from Osama bin Laden, but rather was raised from donors and sources outside the U.S.

NGUYEN: Attacks brought by Swift Boat Veterans have prompted a response from the Kerry campaign. And still, the Bush campaign denies any connection to the ads bashing the Democratic nominee. Jill Dougherty is watching this play out near the president's ranch in Crawford, and she joins us live with the latest there.

Good morning, Jill.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty. Well, you know, it's a very complicated story. You almost have to map it out because there are a lot of developments. But we try to go through what has happened at least yesterday and early today.

Again, we're going back to 1969, that incident in Vietnam that John Kerry as a lieutenant was involved in. And then the current attack ads that have been going after the Democratic challenger on what he did and did he lie about what happened at that point.

And one of the important things is that things attack ads are having some affect. Polls show that they are hurting John Kerry, and that is why the Kerry campaign is trying to come back as quickly as it can.

Yesterday the vice presidential candidate for the Democrats, John Edwards, appealed, actually challenged President Bush said, "This is your moment of truth." And he said, "Take down these ads."

Now the Bush campaign and the White House have said that they do not have any connection. But the Democrats appealed to the Federal Election Commission. They charged that thee is a direct connection between the campaign and these Swift boat veterans for truth, as they are called, who put together those ads.

The Republicans, I should say, the Bush campaign wrote a letter yesterday to the FEC and they said, this is frivolous. You should dismiss it. Here's what they said in that letter. "Sadly, the Kerry campaign is misusing the Federal Election Commission's process to distract attention and gain free publicity concerning charges for which it publicly admits it has no evidence.

Meanwhile, some fallout from this. A member of a veterans coalition for Bush has quit from his position after appearing in a TV ad that blasted John Kerry for his involvement in Vietnam era anti-war protest. That is Air Force Colonel Ken Cordier, and the Bush camp says that they did not know that he was involved in that.

Finally, William Rood. Now William Rood came up yesterday. He is an editor for "The Chicago Tribune." He was in Vietnam, served with Kerry at that time and in fact, was on the river in Vietnam at the time that all of this happened. And he came out in a letter -- in an article in "The Chicago Tribune" saying that Kerry did deserve the Silver Star that he got.

So, if you can follow all of that -- finally, there was one more development and that is that the Kerry campaign now is saying, enough. We should end this. And they have a new ad coming out today which was a, let's get back to the issues -- Betty.

NGUYEN: So many ads. A lot of confusion and a lot of back and forth. All right. Jill Dougherty at Crawford, Texas outside the president's ranch there. Thank you -- Drew.

GRIFFIN: And we have more on what Jill was reporting about one of the skipper boat captains who has come out in defense. His name is William Rood. He's an editor with "The Chicago Tribune" and he asserts that Kerry deserves the Silver Star he was awarded for that ambush in Vietnam.

He writes in today's edition of the paper that "The critics have taken pains to say they're not trying to cast doubts on the merit of what others did, but their version of events has splashed doubts on us all. It has gotten harder and harder for those of us who were there to listen to accounts we know to be untrue, especially when they come from people who were not there." That's William Rood, "The Chicago Tribune" today who apparently served with John Kerry in Vietnam.

NGUYEN: And all of this brings us to our e-mail question of the morning and it is, Swift boat ads, are they dirty politics or just politics as usual? We want to hear from you. Send us your responses to wam@cnn.com. We'll read those responses throughout the morning.

GRIFFIN: Later on CNN, more on campaign politicking with former presidential candidate and World War II veteran, Bob Dole. Tune in to "LATE EDITION" with Wolf Blitzer. That's at noon eastern time.

NGUYEN: For those of you just joining us here's what's happening. This Sunday morning in Iraq, bullets and bombs have been flying over night in Najaf. U.S. ground troops backed by AC-130 gun ships engaged Muqtada al Sadr's militia for about two hours. Iraqi officials report 49 Iraqis killed and 27 wounded.

The death threat against a captured journalist reportedly has been lifted. "The Associated Press" attributes that to an aid to cleric al Sadr. The "AP" quotes the aide saying, they hope they can secure Micah Garen's release today. Citing Italian news reports, the AP also says the body of he Iraqi translator kidnapped with Garen reportedly has been found.

And north of Baghdad two bodyguards of an Iraqi deputy governor were killed today by a car bomb. Seven other people were wounded. The Iraqi official had been targeted in another car bombing just two weeks ago.

Now for some other headlines across America today. Friends and family attended the funeral yesterday in Port St. John, Florida of an American kidnapped and beheaded in Saudi Arabia. Paul Johnson worked as a contractor for Lockheed Martin in Saudi for more than a decade. He was kidnapped back in June. Johnson's remains will be cremated and sent to Thailand where he ad his Thai wife had planned to move.

Charges following a deadly house fire in Philadelphia. Two firefighters died in the blaze on Friday, and this morning a man who allegedly caused that fire is facing murder charges. Prosecutors say the flames broke out among wires and lamps and man had set up to grow marijuana. Local residents say one of the dead fire fighters, John Taylor, tried to help his colleagues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She saved the one guy by telling him to leave when the problems happened, and he basically lost his life trying to rescue one of his own guys. So, he made the ultimate sacrifice. We -- you know, you go, we go. He stayed with his man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Meantime, what a mess at this New Hampshire camp ground. The owner says it will take another day or so to get it back to normal after a thunderstorm tore threw the Hampton Falls area Friday night trapping several campers. Ten people were injured including one in critical condition. The storm brought down trees and power lines and damaged vehicles as well as tents.

GRIFFIN: Still battered and bruised but open. A Florida hospital gets back into business. We're going to stop by one week after Charley paid a call.

NGUYEN: And halfway around the world, the race of all races happens today. You don't want to miss it. Find out why it's so important.

GRIFFIN: and head on HOUSE CALL this morning a look at what works and what doesn't work in the battle against hair loss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Kansas City this morning, good morning to you. Last night the city paid tribute to one of its greats, the jazz stylings of William "Count" Basie. Basie would have been 100 years old yesterday. So they celebrated his birthday with a little concert. The complete weather forecast coming up. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NGUYEN: It happened sooner than expected, a hospital in hurricane ravaged Florida town is opened again after a lot of work. CNN's Sara Dorsey has more from Punta Gorda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Charlotte Regional Medical Center in Punta Gorda is back in business, much to the surprise of some of its patients.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I thought I'd be going to a tent.

DORSEY: Instead of that, doctors checked out John Guilfoyle (ph) inside and then gave him the OK to go home. The hospital is not entirely back to normal or functioning fully. Less serious problems are being handled, but the staff says surgical and critical patients will have to get treatment somewhere else for the next couple of weeks.

Construction and electrical workers were still fixing some damage inside, while roofers repaired the layers that Charley carried away. Agnes Smith remembers hearing that noise very well. She rode out the storm on the third floor with 150 other people.

AGNES SMITH, HOSPITAL ASSISTANT: The next morning, when we opened these shutters, any my staff lives in those houses across the street, some of them, that's when the reality of it struck us.

DORSEY: The hospital survived battered, but not broken for good. Dr. Sophia Salmon Trajan was surprised to see the hospital working again so soon and said there's no doubt of the need.

DR. SALMON TRAJAN, CHARLOTTE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: It's busy. I mean, we're hopping. We just keep moving because if we don't then it's just going to be a backlog of patients.

DORSEY (on camera): It took crews working 24 hours a day an entire week to get this hospital up and running. The staff here says they're relieved to finally reach back out to a community that needs them so much.

Sara Dorsey, CNN, Punta Gorda, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Looks like a sunny day in Florida. Let's go to Rob Marciano with the national weather outlook.

(WEATHER REPORT)

GRIFFIN: The world's fasted man will be crowned at the 28th Olympiad. Today an American is looking to make history as only the second runner to defend his title. CNN's Mark McKay has that report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARK MCKAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Each January there are 53 men declared Super Bowl champions. Each June 22 men get to lift the Stanley Cup, and in any moment there are as many as three heavy weight champions of the world. But once every four years, following an accomplishment completed in less than 10 seconds, one man is instantly separated from all others and granted a title beyond compare, the world's fastest man.

MARK LEWIS-FRANCIS, BRITISH SPRINTER: It's a great honor, to go out there and to be the fastest man in the world is every sprinters' dream and it would be the biggest achievement that you could go out there and do. .

JUSTIN GATLIN, U.S. SPRINTER: Being the fastest man in the world is a big responsibility. You have a duty to uphold and you have a lot of people who will look up to you and a lot of people who will come after you especially.

MCKAY: The gold meal awarded to the men's 100 meter champion brings prestige. The prestige brings notoriety, but the title, the title brings something at once more grand and more simple, the title says that man can do something that no other human on the planet can.

SHAWN CRAWFORD, U.S. SPRINTER: I'm trying to get -- reach in and pull out all of the potential that God has put within me. I just want to see how fast a human can actually run.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Being the world's fastest man doesn't mean that you go out there and run one fast time. You go out there and continuously run fast times, continuously beat everybody in the field.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: It's like you're sitting up there with your crown, like a king on a throne.

MCKAY (on camera): On Sunday the man on the throne will be attempting to retain it. Maurice Greene will try to become only the second sprinter to ever win consecutive gold medals in the 100 meters.

MAURICE GREENE, 100M OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: This year is going to solidify my place in my sport as the greatest of all time. In my time, I would say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's ran, what, 58, you know what I'm saying sub-10s in track and field. That's a great performance, a great career. But you have people who won nine gold medals and ran fast as that too.

GREEN: I have one thing on my mind and that's to continue training, continue working hard and to go pick up my gold medal.

MCKAY: The one reserved for the world's fastest man.

Mark McKay, CNN, Athens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: We'll see if it's that easy.

Well, all across the country people are banding together to trade their junk. Find out how it works and why it is so popular next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Hey, looking for a few books to read and you're a little short of cash? How about a free lawn mower or maybe, a donated car? Perhaps you're looking for some free video games for the kids. Welcome to freecycle.com. It's where you can go to search for things other people want to give you for free. Joining us right now to explain how this whole thing works is Robin Brown of freecycle.org.

Good morning, Robin. This sounds like...

ROBIN BROWN, FREECYCLE.ORG: Good morning.

GRIFFIN: ...this sounds like freebay. Does it really work?

BROWN: It really does work. We've got more than 4,008, no I'm sorry, 400,008 members all over the world in 74 countries and 65 groups in Canada and 1200 plus in the U.S.

GRIFFIN: What's the genesis? Why did this start up?

BROWN: It started out in Tucson, Arizona. A young man named Darren Bill, who worked for a recycle organization, decided that there would be a -- it would be a good thing for people to be able to give their items instead of just throwing them into the landfill. And so, Tucson was the first. That was May 2003, and the rest is growing topsy-turvy. It's up, up, up.

GRIFFIN: And what kind -- we're showing video of real junk. I assume your junk is better than this junk, but what kind of junk stuff is available and what's the most popular?

BROWN: Most popular is household items, people who are moving or they're closing down a parent's house or they're remodeling. They have things that they need to get rid of and they offer it on our local recycle groups. They're all on Yahoo! groups, and someone who needs a sofa or two by fours or dirt for their yard respond and between the two of them they arrange a time to transfer that item from one to the other.

GRIFFIN: Now are you talking facilitating local deliveries to each other or are people sending this through the mail and the shipping services?

BROWN: Very rarely would it be going outside the local original area. I have seen several out of the region requests. For instance last week on the D.C. list there was a woman who wanted Redskin memorabilia and she lives in Illinois, and she offered to pay the shipping.

GRIFFIN: So, it works that way. So otherwise this is like putting people together in various neighborhoods and various cities so that their stuff doesn't have to go tot he trash.

BROWN: Absolutely. We're trying to keep usable items out of the landfills. And he feeling that comes from it is it's good to give. It's a very good feeling. So you know that even though you have upgraded your item someone else is using your old item.

GRIFFIN: Robin Brown from freecycle.org, we thank you for joining us and good luck trading all of that stuff.

BROWN: Oh, we all have too much of it so somebody should get good use.

GRIFFIN: Thanks.

BROWN: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Isn't that the truth. Well, we've been asking for your responses, free of charge of course, to this question, our e-mail question of the day. Swift boat ads, are they dirty politics or politics as usual.

Ann Sam writes to us this morning and he says "Is the me -- it is the media that continues to keep the focus on the so-called Swift boat controversy. If you folks focus on issues instead of endless repetition perhaps the election preamble will develop more into something of real meaning.

GRIFFIN: Greg, watching in South Bend, Indiana, how do the Swift boat ads differ from the move on dotcom attacks? I think that's move on dotorg. It's politics as usual, says Greg.

And if you want to continue writing us on this question you can reach us at wam@cnn.com.

NGUYEN: If you count on overtime pay to make ends meet you might need to change your strategy. A look at who's affected by the new overtime rules. That's ahead next hour on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. We'll be right back with more stories in the news.

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