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CNN Sunday Morning
Lawsuit to Be Filed Over Ignored 911 Call; Pope Benedict XVI Leads Palm Sunday Mass
Aired April 09, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Expected to be filed tomorrow over a 5-year-old's 911 call, he wanted help for his dying mother.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911: Where's the grownups at?
ROBERT: (INAUDIBLE)
911: Let me speak to her before I send the police over there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: But that 911 call got no immediate response, police came an hour later. And when they got to the house, it was too late. Good morning everybody from the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen, it's the 9th day of April.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning everyone I'm Tony Harris. More on that 911 call in just a moment. But, first, a look at some other stories happening right now in the news.
It's cleanup time in Barron County, Kentucky, the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado touched down there. A series of storms tore through the state yesterday. The severe weather was part of a storm system that produced dozens of tornadoes in Tennessee that killed 12 people.
In Iraq, the bodies of five men were discovered in three Baghdad neighborhoods. All of them showed signs of torture and three separate explosions across the country killed three Iraqis and wounded eight policemen.
NGUYEN: Take a look. Do you remember this? Three years ago today, a statue of Saddam Hussein was brought down in Baghdad. How could you forget those images? But, today, there's no break in the violence. U.S. troops killed eight suspected insurgents north of Baghdad. We're going to get a live report from Baghdad just ahead.
It's a sunny day at St. Peter's Square where Pope Benedict is leading a Palm Sunday mass. He told the faithful that olive branches are symbols of peace and palm fronds are symbols of martyrdom. Palm Sunday begins the church's holy week which concludes with Easter Sunday. That celebration taking place next week. HARRIS: Ahead this hour on CNN's SUNDAY MORNING, it could be the impossible dream, affordable health insurance for every American citizen? Massachusetts may be on the verge of making that dream come true. We'll look at the pros and cons.
And this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAT SOT: Oh, my gosh! It just blew their house away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And caught on tape, frightening images of a tornado, too close and personal.
NGUYEN: Well, the city of Detroit is about to face a lawsuit as a 6-year-old boy faces life without his mother. Here's how these stories intersect. Robert Turner called 911 for help when his mother collapsed. The dispatcher gave him a scolding, and by the time crews did arrive, his mother was dead. We get the details from reporter Derrick Dennis of CNN's Detroit affiliate WDIV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT TURNER, SIX YEARS OLD: I just want my mama back, that's all. I'm not so happy.
DERRICK DENNIS, WDIV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six year old Robert Turner can at least talk about it now. His mother, 46-year-old Sheryl Turner, died February 20th, Robert says she was passed out on the kitchen floor waiting for a 911 operator to help.
911: Emergency, 911, what's the problem?
TURNER: My mom is --
DENNIS: That's Robert on the phone, asking Detroit police to send somebody, anybody, but instead of getting officers and an ambulance on the way, the operator had questions.
911: Where's the grownups at?
TURNER: In her room.
911: Let me speak to her. Let me speak to her before I send the police over there.
TURNER: I tried to tell them, she wouldn't talk.
DENNIS: Confused, traumatized, scared the operator would get him into trouble, Robert hung up and started playing around the house, thinking about his mom, hoping she'd wake up, not knowing she was dead.
TURNER: I thought she was passed out. But she was -- DENNIS: Robert was his mother's only hope. He knew how to dial 911, knew she needed help, he even called a second time and again was accused of playing around. His older sister Delana says the system failed them all.
ROBERT TURNER'S SISTER: The dispatcher assumed this was a prank call and maybe they do get prank calls, I don't know. However, this was a child calling. There was no laughter, and he repeated what he was saying.
TURNER: (INAUDIBLE)
911: I don't care. You shouldn't be playing on the phone. Now, put her on the phone before I send the police out there to knock on the door and you're going to be in trouble.
TURNER: Ugh!!!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Detroit's police chief issued this statement. "The citizens of Detroit can be assured that our department is meticulously examining every aspect of what occurred, and if disciplinary action is recommended following the completion of the investigation, then that is the course that will be taken."
We do want to let you know that the family will be holding a news conference at 10:00 a.m. Eastern in Detroit tomorrow on this very issue.
HARRIS: OK, we want to know what you think. Should there be any disciplinary action for the 911 dispatcher? E-mail us your thoughts weekends@cnn.com.
Picking through the debris, trying to salvage what they can. That's what a lot of people across the south are doing today. Deadly tornadoes and severe storms pummeled the region, in Tennessee, 12 people died. Officials say as many as 1,600 homes damaged or destroyed in just two counties. The worst damage was in the suburbs around Nashville. Alabama's governor got an aerial view of the damage to his state. Some homes and other buildings were destroyed, and there were several injuries.
The National Weather Service confirms a tornado touched down in Kentucky yesterday. Dozens of mobile homes damaged, destroyed, and four people injured. South Carolina, didn't escape the violent weather. Three tornadoes struck the Charleston area. One person was injured. State officials in Georgia say it's some of the most extensive damage they've seen in years. Four tornadoes swept through the state, striking homes and businesses. Some of the worst damage was in the suburbs north of Atlanta. National correspondent, Gary Tuchman takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The brunt of the storm only lasted for a matter of minutes. But it was strong enough to take down high-tension power lines. Powerful enough to blow roofs off of houses, dangerous enough to destroy entire businesses. However, it happened in the dead of night, and many Atlantans were too groggy to know what was going on.
NICOLE HILLEY, STORM VICTIM: I heard rain, woke up, and went back to sleep.
TUCHMAN: But this is what Nicole Hilley saw when she went to see how her business made out.
HILLEY: You never can believe something like this happens, and just destroys your whole life.
TUCHMAN: It appears to be a single tornado that wrecked Nicole Hilley's tax-preparing office. And destroyed or damaged other businesses and homes in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Other extensive damage happened in the suburb of Alpharetta, a little bit to the east. Huge trees plunged into houses and as the day wore on, the blue tarps we've seen so much of in Louisiana and Mississippi were already on houses in Georgia. And workers were already out cleaning up. Tax preparer Nicole Hilley took some important keepsakes from her destroyed business.
HILLEY: Pictures of my kids when they were born.
TUCHMAN: She also took note that while her business is gone, she wasn't hurt. For that she's grateful.
HILLEY: I have clients who might be a little bit late with their taxes.
TUCHMAN: She hopes her clients understand. It was a frightening early morning, and many people have a lot to repair. But the good news for the metropolitan Atlanta area is that there were no serious injuries. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Marietta, Georgia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Security remains tight in Baghdad today to mark freedom day. The third anniversary of the day a statue of Saddam Hussein came tumbling down. CNN's Aneesh Raman joins us now from Baghdad. Aneesh, needless to say though, this day has not been free of violence.
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It has not, Betty. Five bodies turned up in the capital, bodies that showed signs of torture, executed, part, it seems as reprisal attacks following Friday's attack on the Shia mosque. As you mentioned in the capital, throughout the country, freedom day being marked, that is dubbed as the day when the statue of Saddam Hussein came towering down in Firdos Square not far from where I am. On that day as the statue came down, decades worth of anger were unleashed by the Iraqi people against Saddam Hussein. It was a moment of new found hope, the thought that the era of Saddam had ended, a new Iraq was now beginning.
I visited that square yesterday with Salman Ali, a resident of Baghdad who was there at the time, and while he said Iraqis undoubtedly look back at that moment as a significant time, it is fear about the future that is now consuming their minds. What is going to happen to this country, where will it be three years from now as sectarian strife continues to grip Iraq and as the government, four months after election day is still yet to form. Betty?
NGUYEN: Aneesh Raman in Baghdad for us this morning. Thank you, Aneesh.
Well, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad discusses the situation on the ground in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZALMAY KHALILZAD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: The issue of prime minister is the one that's holding up things. The UIA, the United Iraqi Alliance had nominated Mr. Jaafari. Other parties have had objections to his nomination and they're talking about the way out. They are doing that today and hopefully they will solve that in the next day or two.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: You can watch more of that interview on CNN's "LATE EDITION" with Wolf Blitzer, that's at 11:00 Eastern today.
Well, if you think you can do it, just ask this group of disabled veterans who took over the ski slopes of Colorado.
HARRIS: Good story.
NGUYEN: Look at this. This morning's soldier's story is next.
HARRIS: And how about this, a tornado bearing down on a teenager who just happens to have a video camera. What does he do? He keeps rolling.
NGUYEN: Look at those pictures.
HARRIS: He captures these pictures. We will talk to the person holding the camera live here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: It is an impressive list of names on the Masters Leaderboard this morning. Watch this shot. Checkup, checkup, checkup! Checkup in the hole -- jeez. The "Fab Five" in the hunt, live to Augusta, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: This morning's "Soldier's Story" should remind you that there is often no such thing as can't do. Nearly 350 former U.S. soldiers, many of them amputees and partly paralyzed, spent a week at Snowmass Ski Area in Colorado. It was part of a national disabled veteran's winter sports clinic. They skied, snowboarded, climbed rocks, fenced, played hockey. I spoke with secretary of veterans affairs, Jim Nicholson, about the event.
JIM NICHOLSON, SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS: Well, it's inspiring to see, we have over 350 handicapped veterans up on the ski slopes in Snowmass at Aspen competing in skiing and fencing and sled hockey and -- you know, different -- stretching -- events for them.
HARRIS: You know, it's described as miracles on a mountainside.
NICHOLSON: Yeah.
HARRIS: What did you see, that in your mind qualifies?
NICHOLSON: I saw that. I tried some of these things myself, but I kept thinking to myself --
HARRIS: Wait a minute, wait a minute. You actually tried some of the techniques and some of the methods?
NICHOLSON: I did. I got on a bi-ski and went up the top of the mountain and came down, and I did the sled hockey. I did the rock climb. But, you know, all the time I'm thinking, if something happens to me, I can walk away from this.
HARRIS: Right.
NICHOLSON: But those paraplegic veterans could not do that, so it bespeaks the courage and the gumption that they have to reach out and to do these things.
HARRIS: You know what, these stories of these veterans, these disabled veterans, are so inspiring. I'm wondering if you can recall any stories that you heard that would be inspiring for us?
NICHOLSON: Indeed. I had a long conversation with one veteran, Chris Devlin Young who was paralyzed below the waist, thought his life was over, and somebody grabbed him by the hand and led him to our winter sports clinic there in Aspen, which is going -- been going on for 20 years. And he put the skis on. They set him down in this little seat on these skis, and this year, in Torino, Italy, he got a silver medal as a downhill ski racer.
HARRIS: Wow. You have to talk to us about what it means for these athletes, for these veterans. I understand that it's there, it helps them, it's probably great in terms of, you know, motivating them to live as full a life as possible. But what do you think it means to these veterans, some of whom have been coming back each year for 20 years?
NICHOLSON: Well, it means so many things. It means a great deal to them, because they are -- they have put ability back in the word "disability." It is giving them new meaning, new self-enhanced image. It's been good for their relationships with their families, because, you know, their athleticism has been able to emerge again. These are robust, you know, athletes that were injured in the service.
And the other thing that's so important that they are doing is that they are providing an optical inspiration to thousands of others that have been injured and they see them in film clips or maybe even this program, and what they are doing is speaking to them and saying, come on out, you can do this, too.
HARRIS: Yeah.
NICHOLSON: You've got to get out and try it.
HARRIS: Mr. Secretary, I'm amazed, and I'm sure you must be, too, by the number of soldiers who come back with these horrible injuries and all they want to do is get back in the fight.
NICHOLSON: You're exactly right. In fact, when I go to Walter Reed and Bethesda and every Friday night here in Washington we have a dinner for these young wounded soldiers that are ambulatory enough, and their one wish to me is they say, "Sir, can you help me get back to my unit?"
HARRIS: Oh, boy, Secretary Nicholson, thanks for your time this morning. We appreciate it.
NICHOLSON: Good to be with you, thank you.
HARRIS: Many of the veterans say the real benefit to getting together is learning how to overcome their disabilities by talking with each other. Oh, boy.
Still ahead, yeah, the congresswoman, the cop, and now the comedy.
NGUYEN: Comedy, much funnier than the little outfits that we have on today. "Saturday Night Live" skewers Cynthia McKinney the congresswoman and borrows the name of one of her co-workers -- or our co-workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here's the deal, Anderson Cooper: There's 535 members of Congress, only 84 of them are black and only 14 of them are women, and only one looks this crazy when she comes walking up the steps. Remember my face!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Oh, and you may not know this face or even his name. But Chad Campbell is hoping that will change in today's Masters. All straight ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Golfers are out early at Augusta National. The third round of the Masters was cut short by rain yesterday. So it's going to be a long walk today for the players and the fans. CNN's Larry Smith is live in Augusta, Georgia, and he joins us with the latest there. What a long day this is going to be, Larry.
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very long day, but at least no rain in the forecast. So we're looking at -- well, we probably won't have a chance of a fifth Monday finish in the 70-year history here at the Masters. But the sun is out, still very breezy, looking at a high of about 70 degrees today. The story at the Masters (INAUDIBLE) is Tiger Woods. Ten times he has won a grand slam title. Four of them here at Augusta, but he's really making it hard on himself here, his third-round play is finally getting under way here at 7:45 this morning. Tiger has already put two balls in the water. So he was at four under par at one point and just two shots off the lead, but he bogeyed a hole, just now he is playing 15, back in the water again, trying to scramble around and try to avoid losing as many shots as he can. But, Tiger again, the defending champion, trying to win a fifth Masters title here.
Tim Clark, the big story, a 30-year-old South African playing in his fifth Masters, four birdies in the front nine, he is right now the leader, a two-shot lead over Phil Mickelson, Rocco Mediates and also Chad Campbell, who was the lead after two rounds, the lead overnight at six under par, he has fallen back to four under par here as well. But once again, phenomenal conditions a bit breezy, but that's going to diminish later on in the day and we will find out who will win this first major of the 2006 golf season. Let's go back to you.
NGUYEN: We've been watching it on the monitors here, and Tony yells out, ah, in the water again!
HARRIS: I pay rapt attention to the job at hand here, which is to guide everyone through this program, CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: Bye Larry.
SMITH: Yeah, don't forget the day job. Try to focus on the other things at hand too, you guys.
NGUYEN: All right, Larry Smith, telling all our secrets today. Talk to you later.
HARRIS: Oh, man, I think he drew blood. Did he draw blood on that one?
NGUYEN: He told on you.
HARRIS: Well here's the thing, Reynolds, Larry is sounding like a weather forecaster out there.
NGUYEN: He was doing pretty good, I think he's trying to take your job there Reynolds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HARRIS: Still ahead, the video, pretty amazing. A powerful tornado ripping up homes. We'll see it in a second here.
NGUYEN: Yeah, and it's heading right at the camera. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NAT SOT: What was that? Was it? Oh, my gosh!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Oh, my gosh is putting it mildly! So is the person recording the images brave or just crazy? Find out when he joins us live here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Plus, health care for everyone in Massachusetts? All that's missing is the governor's signature. Will this spur other states to follow Massachusetts' lead? The answer, still ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: Good morning, everyone. Cleanup and repairs. This will be no day of rest across the southeast. Dozens of tornadoes ripped through the region this weekend. It began Friday with twisters that killed at least a dozen people in Tennessee. At least 14 states are reporting damage from Kentucky to Alabama to South Carolina.
In Iraq, more gruesome discoveries, the bodies of five men have been found in three separate Baghdad neighborhoods, all showed signs of torture. And three bomb blasts around the capital killed three civilians. The homemade bombs also wounded several Iraqi policemen.
NGUYEN: It is freedom day in Iraq, that's what they call it, three years to the day since Saddam Hussein's statue was brought down in Baghdad.
HARRIS: Taking it to the streets! Protesters plan more rallies today over immigration reform, the cities include Miami and Dallas. In Indiana yesterday, a crowd marched in support of immigrants' rights. This weekend's rallies are leading up to major demonstrations expected in dozens of cities tomorrow. A coalition made up of labor, religious, civil rights, and business organizations is behind the event. Organizers are calling it "the national day of justice action for immigrant justice." The immigration legislation that set off all the demonstrations has stalled in Washington, and President Bush blames the democrats. White House correspondent Elaine Quijano joins us live with details.
Elaine, good morning.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony. You know, President Bush did not get what he asked for a few days ago when he urged the Senate to come together and come up with an immigration reform bill. Now, as you'll recall, initially there was word of a breakthrough, word of a bipartisanship compromise in the Senate. But that deal collapsed amid partisan finger-pointing. So in his weekly radio address this weekend, the president blamed the Senate democratic leader, Harry Reid, for the deal's failure. (BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unfortunately, this compromise is being blocked by the Senate democratic leader who has refused to allow senators to move forward and vote on amendments to this bill. I call on the Senate minority leader to end his blocking tactics and allow the Senate to do its work, and pass a fair, effective immigration reform bill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, for his part, Senator Reid said that he was simply trying to keep the bill intact, that he was trying to protect it against republicans who he believed were trying to scuttle the deal. Now in a statement this weekend, Senator Reid blamed republicans saying, quote, "President Bush and Senator Frist are flat-out wrong about what happened to the immigration bill. Democrats are committed to comprehensive, bipartisanship immigration reform. It was President Bush and republicans in Congress who lacked the backbone to stand up to the extreme right wing of their party, filibustered reform twice in two days, and put partisan politics ahead of border security and immigration reform."
Meantime, the division among republicans continues, as well. The president has said over and over again he wants to see a guest-worker program as part of an immigration reform bill, but in a sign of the deep divide in the GOP on this issue, just this morning, in fact, a short time ago, the republican leader in the House, John Boehner, said that he wants to see legislation that deals with border security and interior enforcement first before even talking about a guest-worker program --Ton Tony.
HARRIS: CNN's Elaine Quijano at the White House. Elaine, thank you.
NGUYEN: Well, it is the holy grail of health insurance, coverage for everybody. That's the goal of lawmakers in Massachusetts. The state is trying to make sure that every citizen has health coverage picking up the tab for people below the poverty line. But for others, it means higher costs. Dan Lothian has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Massachusetts has its ivory towers and high-priced real estate, but it also has more than 500,000 people who have no medical insurance, like home health aide Patrick Elliot.
PATRICK ELLIOT, UNINSURED: I need the health care. If I was to get sick today or tomorrow or to hurt or injure myself and I went to an emergency room, I couldn't pay that bill.
LOTHIAN: Elliott joined others at the state capitol in Boston this week rallying in support of a bill over whelming approved that puts the state on the verge of offering nearly universal health care.
ELLIOT: I should have affordable health care, and I need it. I'm not getting any younger. I'm getting older.
LOTHIAN: While other states have plans dramatically expanding health care coverage, Massachusetts wants to take it to the next level. Residents at poverty level or below would get free health care, others struggling, uninsured families would pay on a sliding scale, and those currently insured could get a little relief on their premiums. But some small business owners who don't offer insurance worry that they'll be pushed over the edge.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's out of this world. I think it's crazy.
LOTHIAN: That's because the new bill will force her to provide health insurance coverage, or pay the state nearly $300 per employee per year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of this adds up at the end of the week on, you know, how much money is left to pay me.
LOTHIAN: Governor Mitt Romney, a potential republican presidential candidate in 2008, says he'll take another look at the impact this could have on small business owners. However, he is expected to sign the bill. Closing the deal on what Romney described as an amazing bipartisan effort.
GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R), MASSACHUSETTS: It's a bit like the lining up of the moon and all the stars and the planets in a great gravitational pull.
LOTHIAN (on camera): The money for coverage will come from federal funding and existing state dollars. Experts say depending on how it all works out, Massachusetts could become a model for other states.
Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: So let's talk about that. For more, we're joined by Paul Ginsburg, president for the Center for Studying Health System Change. We appreciate your time. In depth, let's go into the details, now. How can the state afford this?
PAUL GINSBURG, CENTER FOR STUDYING HEALTH SYSTEM CHANGE: Well, the state is actually taking a lot of money it's spending now and spending it in different ways. For example, Massachusetts has -- spends hundreds of millions dollars a year reimbursing hospitals for care that they provide to uninsured patients. So, this money is going to go into subsidizing private insurance for many of those people who would have been uninsured patients.
NGUYEN: All right, and for the small business owners, like we saw in Dan Lothian's piece, they are going to have to either provide that insurance or pay the state around $300 a year per employee. What kind of a strain is that going to put on small businesses? GINSBURG: Well, I think at $300 a year per employee that is not much of a strain, even when the workers are low paid. I think small businesses worry about whether the numbers turn out not to add up and the number they have to pay goes up. But I would think that what they are being asked to pay now is pretty modest.
NGUYEN: Because if they pay it, they get a tax exemption for it, correct?
GINSBURG: That's right.
NGUYEN: All right, but let me ask you, really, how much can $300 get you in insurance?
GINSBURG: Oh, it's not -- that's not the point. The $300 is really an assessment for not providing held insurance, and the employees will go to, they call it the connector, to get a probably subsidized health insurance plan directly rather than through their employer.
NGUYEN: So will this plan, in your eyes, serve as a model for the rest of the nation?
GINSBURG: I think it's going to be very inspiring to other states for two reasons. One is the nature of the political compromise that they didn't just, you know, call each other's name and point fingers. Even though democrats were divided and the democrats versus republicans, they all wanted to get something done, so they came up with a compromise and the ability to compromise on health care will be an inspiration.
NGUYEN: Yeah, there's a lot of bipartisanship support for this, but, you know, Massachusetts has a fairly low uninspired rate. Other states aren't going to have that same number.
GINSBURG: That's right. Now, Massachusetts, in a sense, had an easier job than a lot of other states, because their uninsurance rate was only about seven percent, so they don't have that far to go. But I think states like Massachusetts, who have been doing things for years, to get their uninsurance rates down, those are the states that will be inspired. I'm talking about other states in the northeast, some states in the upper Midwest. I think they're the best candidates for being inspired by Massachusetts, and doing something on their own.
NGUYEN: OK, so as other states will look at this, and think about how they could bring it home to their people, what are some of the pitfalls of the Massachusetts plan so that they can take those into consideration and maybe tweak those a little bit?
GINSBURG: Well, there certainly are uncertainties about whether the amount of money Massachusetts is putting into this will get to the point where coverage will be seen as affordable for those people who are going to be mandated to get it. You know, the calculations they've done suggest that it will happen, but we'll have to see. I think the key barrier at the state level in doing this is the limited revenues that states have. Now, there's only so much money they can put into a program like this without raising taxes.
NGUYEN: And this program does rely on both federal and state funding.
GINSBURG: That's correct.
NGUYEN: So, you got to look at those numbers as well. Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center of Study Health Care System Change, thanks for your insight today.
GINSBURG: You're very welcome.
NGUYEN: Tony.
HARRIS: You know, sometimes adrenaline can make you do things you wouldn't normally try. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SOT: Oh, my gosh! It just blew their house away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Well, we will talk to the young man behind the lens Capturing this video. what was he thinking?
NGUYEN: Yeah.
HARRIS: We'll find out next on CNN SUNDAY MORNING. But, first, this morning's energy tip from CNN's Gerri Willis.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Spring is here, and before you know it, summer heat will be on your doorstep. Be ready for that first heat wave with an energy-efficient air conditioner. The first step, clean or replace the filter. Dirty filters will block the airflow and cause the compressor to run hotter and longer. If you're buying a new air conditioner, make sure that it's the right size for your room. A bigger A.C. won't cool your room faster and you'll spend more on electricity. Use a fan with your air conditioner to spread cool air throughout your home.
(on camera): And keep lamps and TVs away from your thermostat. The heat they produce will cause your air conditioner to run longer than you need to.
I'm Gerri Willis with "Your Energy Tip."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE) all the tips there, CNN's "Open House" with Gerri Willis, every Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here's the deal, Anderson Cooper, there are 535 members of Congress, only 84 of them are black and only 14 of them are women, and only looks this crazy when she comes walking up the steps! Remember my face!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Oh, man. It may be an incident she'd rather forget. A congresswoman gets spoofed for her Capitol Hill run-in, you want to stay with us, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I apologized already. Do not make me feel like a Mexican trying to cross the border when I'm trying to go to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: 9:44 Eastern. Let's get you caught up on this morning's top stories.
Today marks the third anniversary of the fall of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad. But there's no holiday from insurgent violence. Nope. Police say the bodies of five men were discovered in eastern Baghdad. And three Iraqis were killed in separate incidents involving impoverished -- improvised explosives devices.
Now, back in the United States, dump trucks and work crews are back today in Sumner County, Tennessee, clearing debris following a string of tornadoes. Statewide, 12 people died in the storms. Heartiest hit was the town of Gallatin, where the National Guard is enforcing a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
HARRIS: Betty, you see something like this coming your way. You do the same thing, right? You run.
NGUYEN: You get out of there is what you do.
HARRIS: You find some shelter somewhere, anywhere. Not Brenton Wilson. He is the amateur photographer who took this video -- great for us, scary for him. He held his ground and he kept his focus and he kept on recording. He has got to be very, very -- well, let's find out. Brenton Wilson joins us from Memphis, Tennessee.
Brenton, good morning.
BRENTON WILSON, AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER: Good morning to you.
HARRIS: How are you doing, man?
WILSON: I'm doing pretty good after this storm. HARRIS: So, was there a moment -- wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, let me back up here. What were you thinking?
WILSON: I'm thinking it's a big storm coming right towards me, might as well go and get on it tape.
HARRIS: Well, why on tape? Why not get out of the way? Brenton, why are you saying you're going to put on it tape?
WILSON: Well, that's just one of the things I just grew up wanted to do. I've always wanted to actually see a tornado without actually being in it, and my first reaction was actually to get on it tape so everybody else could see it.
HARRIS: You know, you don't have one of these kind of desires of being a storm chaser later do you? You don't want to do that, do you?
WILSON: Actually, I have to tell you, when I was a kid, that was actually one of my dreams, but it's kind of died down until this storm.
HARRIS: Right, right.
WILSON: Yeah.
HARRIS: And now that you've been through this, you want to do any more of it?
WILSON: Actually, I've pretty -- I'm hoping I never see one of those again.
HARRIS: So, you see this storm -- tell us where you are. What's your city? Where'd you take these pictures.
WILSON: I live about one mile out of both of Braggadocio, Missouri, and (INAUDIBLE), Missouri, and I actually saw the tornado come from Kenant, Missouri, and was devastating both of my towns.
HARRIS: Have you been back around just to sort of see the damage left behind by the storm?
WILSON: Actually, whenever it passed through I set there and watched it pick up my neighbor's house and actually throw it about 100 feet in the air. So, you know, first thing we were out there on the scene right after it passed and making sure everybody's all right.
HARRIS: So in hindsight, once you saw that the damage and the devastation did you rethink your decision to roll tape?
WILSON: Well, actually, if you put me back in that same position, I would have probably done the exact same thing again.
HARRIS: What?
WILSON: Yeah. HARRIS: Why?
WILSON: Actually, it's always been a big thing of mine.
HARRIS: Yeah.
WILSON: I've always been really interested in weather and storms, and you don't really see one of those things everyday coming through the boothill.
HARRIS: So did you -- yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no good point. Did you talk to your folks? Your folks -- they weren't at home with you, were they?
WILSON: No, actually they were in Dyersburg, Tennessee, they were grocery shopping, and I actually caught them on the cell phone and told them there were two tornadoes in our front yard.
HARRIS: Oh, my goodness.
WILSON: Yeah.
HARRIS: And so, all right, they make a path back home. All right to...
WILSON: Yeah.
HARRIS: OK, and when -- any damage to your home, your family home?
WILSON: No. Actually, it just passed within a mile of my house and where I was, it was actually pretty peaceful. You could actually hear birds chirping.
HARRIS: Oh, my goodness. So, your folk's see the tape and what do they say to you?
WILSON: Pretty much what everybody else says. You know, that's probably about the dumbest thing they've ever seen in their life. But thank goodness that I got the tape at least so...
HARRIS: Hey, did you have that moment when, you know, when it's OK and you're safe, and you think back on what you've seen and kind of like your life flashes before your eyes?
WILSON: No. Actually it was more like, you know, I cannot believe I just got this humongous tornado on my film, you know, I never would have saw this coming.
HARRIS: How did we find it? Did you put it up on a Web site or something?
WILSON: No, actually I -- I actually waited a couple of days, I didn't think nothing of it, really. I showed it to some friends and everything, but I actually sent it to the local new and then I had all these corporations calling me. HARRIS: Really?
WILSON: Yeah. You don't really hear that everyday.
HARRIS: Let me see here, corporations, calling Benton cha-ching, cha-ching. Did you make a little coin on this?
WILSON: Do what?
HARRIS: Yeah, you heard me, you heard me. Did you make a little money off on this?
WILSON: No, actually I am trying to help out Braggadocio town any way I can.
HARRIS: Are you? So, if you get a little money, if folks offer you a little money then you'll help your town, right?
WILSON: Yeah, I try to.
HARRIS: OK. You have a relief fund, I'm told.
WILSON: Yeah.
HARRIS: OK. Any information?
WILSON: Yeah, it's at the Bank Star of the Boothill, and we're taking any, like, donations or we need some home supplies. And the address is actually 101 Main Street.
HARRIS: All right. How about this? How about this? We will get the information, stay on the line with us -- we'll get the information an we'll attach it to our Web site. Sound like a plan?
WILSON: Sounds good to me.
HARRIS: OK, Brenton, good to see you. Yeah, don't this again, all right?
WILSON: No.
NGUYEN: You know he's not going to take the advice. That's a professional photographer in the making right there.
Well, it's become one of the outrage stories of the day, a long delay before police respond to a 911 call from a young boy trying to get help for his dying mother. Your e-mail comments, that's next right here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Now, time to check in with Howard Kurtz in Washington to see what's ahead on CNN's "Reliable Sources."
Hello, Howard. HOWARD KURTZ, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Thanks, Betty. Coming up, the CBS evening news with Katie Couric, months of speculation, now a reality. Is she the right choice? Can she change the nature of the evening newscast? We'll ask two men in charge during the tenures of Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer.
Also we'll talk about Meredith Vieira on the "Today Show" -- going to the "Today Show."
Plus is the press going overboard on the disclosure that President Bush approved the leaking of classified information?
And the gossip scandal roiling of the "New York Post," accusations that a staffer tried to shake down a billionaire. It's all next on "Reliable Sources."
NGUYEN: And it's all very interesting. We'll be watching "Reliable Sources," coming up at 10:00 Eastern followed by Wolf Blitzer and "Late Edition" at 11:00 and "On the Story" at 1:00 Eastern. You'll want to stay tuned to CNN as we go in-depth into the stories of the day.
HARRIS: OK, all morning long we've been asking for your thoughts on our e-mail question: Should there be any disciplinary action for the 911 dispatcher who treated an emergency call from a 6-year-old kid...
NGUYEN: Uh-huh.
HARRIS: As if it were the kid, you know, just playing a prank or something.
K.J. from Hanover, New Hampshire, writes, "The tape doesn't lie and she was negligence in sending help. She should be prosecuted under the law. The family should receive some compensation. I hope she never dispatches again."
NGUYEN: Amber from Canada says, "I realize that in today's society kids do play pranks, but regardless of whether or not it was a prank, every 911 call should be responded to. Being a new mother myself and having diabetes, I would hope that my emergency would not be disregarded as a prank."
HARRIS: And this from the -- from someone in the sheriff's in South Florida. "It is not the 911 operator's job to decide which calls are gags, we respond to all 911 calls and the deputy can handle the prankster if needed. There was no reason for this loss of life."
Thank you very much for your e-mails this morning and more on this tomorrow, a press conference with the family.
NGUYEN: At 10:00 a.m. Eastern with the families.
HARRIS: In Detroit?
NGUYEN: We've gotten so many responses to this e-mails question, a lot of outrage over what had happened.
A lot of outrage over the weather, the past couple of days of, but not today. Reynolds Wolf is in with the latest on that. Hi Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: Thank you.
WOLF: You bet.
HARRIS: OK, are you ready for this had?
NGUYEN: This is good. You have to watch this.
HARRIS: He said, she said, but what does "Saturday Night Live" have to say?
NGUYEN: A lot. You know they just had to show this a little bit of humor on congresswoman's Cynthia McKinney's part with the run-on with the Capitol Hill police officer. Even our own Anderson Cooper wasn't spared.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you do admit to slapping the police officer?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you want, Anderson? I apologized already. Do not make me feel like a Mexican trying to cross the border when I'm trying to go to work. You put a police officer in my way, and I will slap him! If you put that police officer -- if he has a dog, I will slap that dog! I am going to work. Momma's getting paid.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Interesting take.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't you size me up, Anderson, I will slap that Keel's (ph) moisturizer right off your face, Anderson Cooper!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's all the time we have. Coming up next, a very special "Lou Dobbs Report" where Lou goes to an Indian restaurant, strips to the waist and offers to find any waiter that dares to try it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Oh, my goodness. Nobody spared.
HARRIS: Do we have it on the Web site? We need to put that on the Web site.
NGUYEN: If we don't, we need to put it on the Web site.
HARRIS: I don't know if it's a rights issue or anything...
NGUYEN: Remember her face.
HARRIS: All right. "Reliable Sources" is next, and followed by "Late Edition" and "On the Story."
NGUYEN: Fredricka Whitfield will be with you all morning long provide you news updates.
HARRIS: And Brenton Wilson, remember a moment ago we were going to try to get the address for his relief fund.
NGUYEN: The photographer of the tornado.
HARRIS: All right, here's the address for his home relief fund. Here's the address right there, to help out his hometown, and the Bank Star of the Boothill, Delta C-7 Relief Fund, 101 Main Street, Steele, Missouri, 63877. Have a great day.
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