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CNN Sunday Morning
Search Continues for Newborn Abducted From Texas Hospital; Security Plans for Bush Visit to Colombia; Shiite Pilgrims Killed in Car Bomb Attack in Baghdad; Police Search for Man who Beat and Robbed Elderly Women in New York; Pushing for a Pullout From Iraq; 'Faces of Faith'
Aired March 11, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. It's a Sunday morning, March 11th.
I'm Melissa Long, here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Both T.J. Holmes and Betty Nguyen are off this morning.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And I am Don Lemon.
It's 7:00 a.m. here in the East and 4:00 a.m. out West. And remember, we sprung forward one hour today.
LONG: I'm tried. Are you tired?
LEMON: Oh. So change your clocks, grab your coffee, and listen up, because there's a whole lot happening today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the person that has this baby is listening, I would just implore them, please, take him to someplace safe, and drop them off if need be. And that's our main concern right now, is the safety of this child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: A 3-day-old baby girl stolen from the maternity ward in Texas. Precious time is ticking away as police are hunting for the alleged abductor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm 101 years old. How are you going to run after a mugger?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Elderly attack. This video will make you angry. It will make your blood boil. And police say the mugger's next victim, an 85-year- old woman.
LONG: High alert. Major security prep as the president is traveling to a city with a violent reputation.
LEMON: That may sound scary, and these protesters aren't the only cause for concern today. We're going to tell you all about it.
You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
LONG: And our top story this morning, the search for a newborn snatched from a Texas hospital. Tips are coming in from all across the country following the release of this surveillance tape. But so far, nothing.
We do have a better picture for you to look at this morning, more clearly showing a woman police believe walked out of that hospital with the baby in her purse. Take a close look.
CNN's Keith Oppenheim joins us now live this morning from Lubbock, Texas.
Good morning, Keith.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Melissa.
And just about anywhere you go in Lubbock this morning you will see a sign, a broadcast, or a flyer like this indicating that there is an Amber Alert for 5 -- excuse me -- 4-day-old Mychael Darthard. She was born four days ago, she is vulnerable. She weighs just five pounds and she is jaundiced and needs to be in a special care nursery in a hospital.
Police indicate that it was at 1:20 a.m. yesterday morning that authorities were alerted that Mychael was abducted. And as you look at the surveillance pictures from Lakeside Medical Center here in Lubbock, you can see an image of the suspect.
Police described her as an African-American female, about 5'3" o 5'5" tall. She was posing as a hospital employee, wearing flower print scrubs. And she also had on a puffy jacket with a fur-lined hood, possibly left in a red Dodge pickup truck with black trim and tinted windows.
Hospital spokesman Gwen Stafford talked about how the public can make a big difference in a case like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GWEN STAFFORD, SENIOR V.P., COVENANT MEDICAL CENTER: I would urge the public, who has always been very helpful in these type of situations, to help us get the baby back to the mommy and to the family. So I think our focus is getting the baby reunited. The employees and all of the staff, the physicians, are all devastated, along with the family, and our prayers, our love go out to them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPENHEIM: Police indicate they are getting some credible leads and following those leads, but most of what they really need is some help from the public, someone to observe someone who has a baby, someone who perhaps should not have a baby in the perception of the person looking at them. And those are the kind of reports that can often make a big difference in cases like this.
Back to you.
LONG: Keith, a lot of people who have recently been in the hospital, certainly maternity ward, may be wondering what about the security bracelet on that baby's arm?
OPPENHEIM: The baby was wearing a security bracelet. And according to police, that security bracelet was removed in the hospital, likely during the abduction, before the child was taken outside the -- outside the doors.
LONG: Keith Oppenheim, live for us this morning from Lubbock, Texas.
Keith, thank you.
LEMON: Security will be extremely tight when President Bush arrives in Colombia later today. Among the concerns, protesters in the country's long-running battle against drug cartels and leftist rebels.
CNN's Karl Penhaul got an advanced look at security plans for President Bush's visit. He joins us now from Bogota.
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, we hear that President George Bush is now wheels up. He's heading this way from Uruguay. We expect him to land here in a few hours.
Now, President Bush did come to Colombia in 2004, but this the first time that he's come to Bogota. Last time he was in the coastal city of cartagena. And this will, in fact, be the first visit by a U.S. president to Bogota since Ronald Reagan. So this is what's causing some of the security headaches.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PENHAUL (voice over): Swooping over Bogota, capital of the country, with one of the most violent reputations in Latin America. City police chief General Daniel Castiblanco is on high alert for potential attacks by ruthless cocaine cartels or powerful communist rebels.
"We're gathering a lot of electronic and human intelligence and carrying out operations, if necessary. Right now, there's no problem for President Bush's visit," he says.
Castiblanco believes neither the drug mobs nor the guerillas are as dangerous as they once were. "The government and security forces have hit narco trafficking and subversive groups hard. We can control them and prevent any kind of attack," he explains.
Twenty-two thousand cops and thousands more soldiers will lock down Bogota Sunday. Castiblanco says Colombian and U.S. Secret Service snipers will take up positions on high buildings. Police motorcycles are ready and rioters received final orders. They'll be part of the so-called security capsule around President Bush's motorcade. Thousands more police will guard Bolivar Plaza, adjacent to the palace where Bush and Colombia president Alvaro Uribe will meet. Two and a half miles away, labor unions, the main center left opposition party, and radical students are planning an anti-Bush rally like this one during the week. Students fought running battles with riot police. "This is a demonstration of Colombian dignity. We will not become the slaves of U.S. imperialism," he says.
Not all Colombians oppose Bush's trip.
"We know a lot of people don't agree with this, but we believe in an age of globalization. And I think it's good for us," this sales representative says.
"We should give him a big welcome. He's an important person, and maybe our country will need to ask him for a loan someday," she tells me as she sells corn to feed the pigeons.
General Castiblanco is scouring the skyline for any sign of trouble. "It's a tremendous personal and professional challenge to guarantee peace and security for the president of the United States," he says, but he's confident President Bush is in safe hands.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PENHAUL: Now, so far, we have seen protests following President Bush on this trip, and also protests in advance of anywhere that he is going. It would be wrong though to characterize all of Latin America as fervently anti-American. The political and economic elites have long had cozy relationships with the United States, but among the liberal and the leftist sectors of society in Latin America there's a generational resentment of the United States toward for what they see as a meddling in the region's politics -- overthrows of government, support of dictators, support of strong-arm militaries during the Cold War, and also the whole free trade deal that they feel is giving Latin America a bad deal -- Don.
LEMON: Karl, let's go back to those protests. Do we have any idea of the size of them later today, how big?
PENHAUL: We understand that around the bull ring -- that's about two and a half miles from where George Bush will meet President Alvaro Uribe -- a concentration of leftists will be taking place there about an hour before George Bush arrives, and that's expected to continue throughout the day. That will be labor unions, the main opposition leftist party, and some of the radical students, quite possibly.
Difficult to say how big it will be, because being a Sunday, there is that factor. Many people may just decide to take the day off and not come out and protest -- Don.
LEMON: All right. CNN's Karl Penhaul joining us from Bogota via broadband.
Thank you so much.
LONG: And new developments in Iraq. We learned just moments ago dozens of Shiite pilgrims have been killed in a car bomb attack in Baghdad. And this as the new top U.S. commander tries to carry out the daunting task of stabilizing Iraq.
We get more now this morning from CNN's Jennifer Eccelston, who joins us live from Baghdad.
JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Melissa, it's been a deadly start to the work week -- work week here. As you just mentioned, a car bomb detonated near Shia pilgrims in central Baghdad as they were making their way home from the holy city of Karbala, marking that Arba'in religious commemoration.
We understand now that 31 people have been killed in that explosion and 25 injured. It's not the only event that took place today. Nine more civilians were killed when a minibus bomb exploded in Sadr City.
Now, this American troop surge and the Iraqi troop surge that's taking place here in Baghdad is meant to stem the violence. There's also a troop surge heading to Anbar Province in western Iraq, where American and Iraqi forces routinely battle Sunni insurgents, local insurgents, and those who cross the border from neighboring Syria.
But since the invasion, stabilizing this enormous region has proved to be an elusive goal, but the new commander of multinational forces here, General David Petraeus, says a recent adjustment in U.S. military tactics in Anbar has changed that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ECCLESTON (voice over): He's back, but this time he's the man in charge. Now as the top commander in Iraq. He's revisiting the troops and studying what is an ever-evolving battlefield.
General David Petraeus, commander of multinational forces, has a daunting task to secure this country. And it all starts here, in the restive Anbar Province, a major fault line in the fight to secure Iraq, a major front in the fight to secure its capital.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, MULTINATIONAL FORCE, IRAQ: Anbar Province has been a terrorist route from Syria into -- all the way into Baghdad. In fact, it's almost a dagger pointed at Baghdad.
ECCLESTON: A route not only for terrorists, but for weapons, too, smuggled across the border, ending up in Ramadi, Falluja, and Baghdad.
In the past, American and Iraqi operations cleared Hit and other cities of insurgents, often fighting street by street. When they were secured, coalition forces moved out and the insurgents moved back in. The local population suffered.
PETRAEUS: The insurgents have killed their sheiks, their sons, their brothers, and they've had enough of that.
ECCLESTON: That game of cat and mouse, according to American forces, has come to an end.
Iraqi police and army, American soldiers and Marines, increased their presence on the streets, created firm bases, a permanent presence in and around the city.
PETRAEUS: That's nice.
ECCLESTON: A signal to residents that they are here for the long run.
PETRAEUS: That it makes all Iraqis feel as if they have a stake in the success of this new Iraq, and that's absolutely vital. And again, we will certainly try to help provide the opportunity for them to do that, without worrying about whether they can get to work that day or their child will be kidnapped on the way to school, or something like that.
(SPEAKING ARABIC)
ECCLESTON: A plan so simple that it's now become a model for all of Anbar.
PETRAEUS: But you say stayed.
ECCLESTON: The same model that General Petraeus now wants to replicate nationwide.
PETRAEUS: (SPEAKING ARABIC).
ECCLESTON: Part of being the new man in charge means providing a simple connection, showing that boots on the ground matter.
PETRAEUS: It's an honor for me...
ECCLESTON: Getting out and meeting with those who are influential in the communities, like Sheikh Hikmad (ph), who also happens to be the mayor of Hit.
(on camera): You have a good feeling about the future?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope, yes, I hope. I hope.
PETRAEUS: I think the -- one of the crucial factors, as we discussed, is, in fact, the tribes. They have just had it. So you have the right circumstances where the right commander or the right unit with the right mindset, with good Iraqi partners can all of a sudden achieve a breakthrough.
(SPEAKING ARABIC).
ECCLESTON (voice over): A public relations breakthrough today, but for the Iraqi public, they hope perhaps a long-term partnership in the making.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ECCLESTON: General Petraeus makes the point over and over again that, in order to secure Baghdad, to prevent the types of bombings we see this day, they must secure Anbar. And to give you an idea of the volatility in that province and the danger it poses to U.S. forces alone, in February, 40 American Marines, sailors and soldiers died there -- Melissa.
LONG: Jennifer Eccelston live from Baghdad this morning.
Jennifer, thank you.
And CNN correspondents will be discussing the war in Iraq, the fallout from revelations of shabby conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and the president's Latin American trip this week on "THIS WEEK AT WAR." John Roberts is your host at 1:00 Eastern Time.
LEMON: An Iraqi militant group threatens to kill a kidnapped German woman and her son. The group made a threat in an Internet video that reportedly -- or purportedly shows the pair. Now, the group says it will kill them in 10 days unless Germany with draws its 3,000 troops from Afghanistan. CNN could not independently confirm the authenticity of that video.
As expected, President Bush has signed off on a military request to send 4,400 more troops to Iraq. This is in addition to the 21,500 troops he announced in January would be going to Iraq. The president is asking Congress for $3.2 billion more to pay for the deployment. The military says the bulk of them will handle detainee operations.
LONG: And now a story about a 100-year-old woman, but it didn't stop a mugger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got a little -- a little angry, you know, and I said, "Oh, that so-and-so. I hope you get caught."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: She's bruised and angry, but she's not the only elderly victim.
Plus, coming up, a look at the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
LONG: Police in New York City are desperate to get somebody off the street, this guy right there. You can see him in that video, beating and robbing an elderly woman. And as Sandra Bookman of our affiliate WABC reports, she isn't his only victim.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSE MORAT, 101-YEAR-OLD MUGGING VICTIM: I'm 101 years old. How are you going to run after a mugger?
SANDRA BOOKMAN, REPORTER, WABC (voice over): Rose Morat's face is battered and bruised after a violent struggle with a mugger in the lobby of her Queens apartment building. The assault was caught on videotape in disturbing detail.
You can see Rose on her way to church with the help of a walker. The young man she thought was opening the door turns on her, punching her repeatedly before taking her purse and rummaging through her pockets. Bleeding profusely, the century-old woman musters the strength to try to get her purse back, and that's when this thief knocks her and her walker to the ground.
MORAT: I got a little angry, you know. And I said, "Oh, that so-and- so. I hope you get caught."
BOOKMAN: As Rose's neighbors rushed to her aid, police say her attacker jumped on his pink bike and pedaled over to the Common Life Tower (ph) on 170th Street and found his second victim, 85-year-old Solange Elizee, who suffers from Parkinson's and also uses a walker. The same suspect rode the elevator up with her, got off one floor below, and ran up to Solange's door before she got inside.
SOLANGE ELIZEE, 85-YEAR-OLD MUGGING VICTIM: He began to beat me, beat me in my face a lot, and a lot of blood coming out of my mouth.
MORAT: Solange's chin and arm were injured in the attack, but perhaps most upsetting, the suspect stole this widow's wedding ring that she has worn for 60 years.
The suspect is being described as a male in his 30s.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: A terrible, terrible story. And again, we have that picture for you. Police really need your help in order to find that person responsible.
LEMON: There's a special place in hell for him, with his name on it.
LONG: There again, that picture there from the NYPD.
LEMON: All right. He was once legally blind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything I looked at was different. You know, you look at a stop sign, it was really red. Food looked different, which made it taste different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, there you go. Now he can see. He says it's a miracle. His story coming up in our "Faces of Faith."
LONG: And later, in the WaterCooler, these coins here demand closer inspection.
And if you find one, Don, you're supposed to hold on to it, OK?
LEMON: OK. LONG: We're going to explain why ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
LEMON: I have trouble on to it. I've got to spend everything I have.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: The correct time Eastern, 7:25. You needed to change the clocks overnight.
Did you?
LEMON: You know what? I thought my cell phone would. It didn't automatically.
LONG: It didn't? Really?
LEMON: I did the Blackberry thing, but my cell phone is my alarm clock.
So thanks, mom. I called my mom last night. I said, "Please, wake me up."
LONG: Oh, how sweet.
Oh, mom, thanks. That's really sweet.
LEMON: Yes.
LONG: I actually set three alarm clocks as a precaution.
LEMON: Oh. She's got it.
LONG: Yes.
LEMON: You know, but one Indiana county is in a different time zone.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LONG: Still to come this morning on CNN SUNDAY MORNING, a Colorado woman has been found dead, weeks after her death.
LEMON: How an Internet networking site led police to two teenage lovers, one of them the woman's daughter.
LONG: And on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton. She's talking about Iraq. Does she set her stance on it straight?
That's ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: And welcome back, everyone. It's 7:31 Eastern -- 7:31. I'm Don Lemon.
LONG: Hope you moved your clocks forward.
Good morning. I'm Melissa Long.
A story we're following in great detail this morning, a story of an infant with jaundice abducted from the maternity ward yesterday. And now a multi-state manhunt for the person who snatched the little girl.
Can the baby survive? And what happened with security at that hospital?
We're covering all the angles.
LEMON: And can you imagine this? He was once blind, but now he can see. One man's incredible story. It is fueled by his faith in god. It's a story you'll want to see in this morning's "Faces of Faith."
LONG: This next story kind of sounds like a made-for-television movie, only it is the real thing. Police in Lafayette, Colorado, say it's all about two teens, a murder, and a cover-up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LONG (voice over): Up until February, Linda Damm, her 15-year-old daughter, Tess, and Tess's boyfriend, 17-year-old Bryan Grove, lived here in this house in a modest Lafayette neighborhood. Affidavits filed with police say that on the night of February 3rd, Grove became enraged and entered Linda's bedroom, choking and stabbing her four times with a knife. The motive believed to be an argument over Linda's drinking problem.
According to the Damm's family, Linda's issues with drinking tore the mother and daughter apart. CNN found this entry on Tess's MySpace blog: "I could write a book about just how confusing it is to please that woman...and trying to do whatever I can to get her to stop drinking."
Police believed Grove didn't like the way Linda treated Tess, and on the night before Linda's murder, this entry on Grove's MySpace blog: "Knives take my breath away." Seventeen days later, this blog entry: "I did things that I shouldn't have, with my two hands. I just want to drink a barrel of cyanide to make the pain go away."
According to the affidavit, police say after the murder, the pair and at least one friend drove Linda's body to a cemetery, buried her in a shallow grave, but later dug her up, afraid the grave wasn't deep enough. Twenty-five days later, an anonymous tip led police to Linda's body and the teens' arrest.
Grove and Tess remain in jail without bond. Grove is charged with first-degree murder, Tess as an accessory. Both teens face conspiracy and tampering charges, and police are investigating the role friends may have played after the murder.
The Damm family released a statement saying they want everyone involved to be held accountable. Tess's uncle has this message for her...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love her. And we're going to try to get her all the help that she can get now.
LONG: CNN was not able to reach the teens' attorneys. The Associated Press also tried to reach out, and reported that the attorneys either declined comment or did not return calls.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And we have been following this other developing story in the CNN NEWSROOM. There have been no breaks in the case of that newborn snatched from a Texas hospital. Police searching for this woman. She's suspected of grabbing the five-pound baby and stuffing the infant into her purse.
Now, this hospital video from Lubbock, Texas, shows a woman dressed in medical scrubs walking right out of the hospital, more than 30 hours ago. The baby girl, just 3 days old when she was taken, has jaundice. Now, the newborn was wearing a monitoring device, but police say it was removed.
There are so many questions concerning this case. Do those special I.D. bracelets that hospitals place on newborns, do they work? And jaundice, how much of a threat is it to the baby?
Well, CNN's Rick Sanchez takes us for a look for some answers for that with a doctor from Atlanta's Emory Hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Apparently, this child was wearing one of these bracelets, which they use in maternity wards, right?
DR. SUJATHA REDDY, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Right.
SANCHEZ: Describe to us how this works. What is it?
REDDY: Well, this attaches to the baby's leg or arm, and this has -- is a transponder, and it sends a signal. This type has a sensor on the back that if it gets unattached and loses contact with the baby's skin, this sends a signal to the nurse's station, where there's a monitor of all of these, and lets it know baby X, that had this bracelet, has been removed, and it sends the whole unit into shutdown and alarm.
SANCHEZ: Yes. You were actually saying the elevators will stop working...
REDDY: Absolutely.
SANCHEZ: ... if this -- if someone wearing this comes near it, right?
REDDY: Correct. This shuts down -- it locks the doors, shuts down the elevators if this gets anywhere near. So you cannot leave the unit or the building.
SANCHEZ: But apparently she didn't have that. Apparently, the person who took her either took that thing off or cut it off. So, she may have been able to leave because you could take this off, right?
REDDY: Correct. If they didn't have the kind with the skin sensor, if you cut it off, then, yes. And you left that transponder, let's say, in the room or in the bassinet and just took the baby, it wouldn't make a noise.
SANCHEZ: That's fascinating.
Now, this baby seems to be in dire straits. They're talking about it being jaundiced, they're talking about it needing electrolytes, needing perhaps mother's milk, because if it doesn't it could get very ill.
Explain that to us.
REDDY: Well, newborns can't digest the same milk that we would buy in the grocery store.
SANCHEZ: Right.
REDDY: They have to have formula or mother's milk. They don't have the enzymes in their system to break down the type of sugars that are in regular milk. So, whoever has this baby needs to know you cannot feed it just regular milk you get out of your fridge.
As far as the jaundice, if that's not treated and it is getting worse or it is at a high level in the blood, the bilirubin level, this baby could have some serious problems.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: Rick Sanchez there speaking with the doctor from Atlanta's Emory Hospital.
Today Spain is marking a somber moment. A monument to the victims of the Madrid train bombings was unveiled just a short time ago, three years since the attacks.
You'll recall the attacks involved bombs that were left in backpacks. They exploded, blowing crowded commuter trains apart. The terrorist bombings killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.
LEMON: Melissa, let's talk about war and politics. Democrats, specifically, pushing for a deadline to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq. Candidate Clinton is spreading that message on the campaign trail as she refines her position on the war.
Here is correspondent Andrea Koppel, part of the best political team on television.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): No sooner did Senator Hillary Clinton arrive at this local chocolate shop in Nashua, New Hampshire, than she got right down to business, courting voters, and in between sips of homemade hot chocolate refining her position on Iraq, joining other congressional Democrats to set a new deadline, March 31, 2008, for U.S. combat troops to leave.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: A goal to try to move the president to understand what needs to be done in order to change the mission in Iraq and begin to bring our troops home.
KOPPEL: A point she hammered home again when she addressed the New Hampshire Democratic Party's premier fund-raising event this weekend.
CLINTON: Our soldiers matter. That's why we finally have to start bringing them home.
KOPPEL: Clinton says her position has not changed, but just listen to what she told CNN in January.
CLINTON: I am not advocating a date certain and immediate withdrawal from Iraq.
KOPPEL (on camera): A recent New Hampshire poll had Senator Clinton tied with chief rival, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, at 28 percent. Coming in third, Senator John Edwards at 17 percent. When asked, one out of every three of these voters said for them, the Iraq war is the biggest issue.
(voice over): Here in this Nashua barbershop, the war weighs on customers like Mark Duggan (ph), who, even though he likes the idea of leaving next March...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obviously, the sooner the better, but you can't just run out the door.
KOPPEL: Last month, during her first visit to New Hampshire as a presidential candidate, Clinton was criticized for refusing to apologize for voting to authorize the war in 2002, as Senator Edwards has done.
Matt Van Wagner (ph) says that still bothers him, but he appreciates the senator is now taking a stand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whether it's the right stand or not, at this point, I'd almost just as soon the military guys tell us when we should come and when we should go.
KOPPEL: Senator Clinton has plenty of time to change minds here in the Granite State, which won't hold the first primary in the nation for 10 more months, until January, 2008.
Andrea Koppel, CNN, Nashua, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: A priest and a troubled boy. In a special report, Thomas Roberts of CNN HEADLINE NEWS shares a painful secret with Anderson Cooper. It is part of our special coverage, "Sins of the Father."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): In the fall of 1986, Thomas Roberts started his freshman year at the prestigious Calvert Hall. He adjusted quickly to the new school, but the strain of his parents' divorce was a constant source of struggle.
THOMAS ROBERTS, HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: My relationship with my parents through that time, and with my mom going back to work and all these changes, I pulled back. I kind of disconnected from my family environment.
COOPER: By Thomas's sophomore year, his mom, Michelle, realized the emotional and financial difficulties at home were too much for her son to deal with alone. Struggling herself just to make ends meet, she looked to a familiar face to help mentor her son, someone she felt she could trust. She turned to the man who had already helped Thomas get into the school, Father Jeff Tuey (ph).
MICHELLE ROBERTS, THOMAS' MOM: I thought he needed a male influence. And who better, you know, than the Catholic priest who's charming and kind and wonderful? You know, I wanted Thomas to be just like him.
COOPER (on camera): Who better?
M. ROBERTS: Yes.
T. ROBERTS: That night I remember getting dropped off at Father Jeff's house. And we began a conversation in his den, where he just started to ask what's going on with you. And so he took a kind ear, you know, and listened to me. I remember it was a conversation that I cried. I let Father Jeff know that my relationship with my parents wasn't where it should be.
From this conversation forward, he pretty much knew that I was a kid without anybody, you know, to talk to.
COOPER (voice-over): No one to talk to, except of course Father Jeff. After that first conversation, Thomas believed he finally had someone he could confide in. He trusted Father Jeff. He continued to return to the priest's house on Cottage Lane.
When you see the house, what do you think?
T. ROBERTS: I wish I had never seen it. I wish I had never seen this house. Never.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: After years marked by secrecy, again, Thomas Roberts of "HEADLINE NEWS" shares his heart-wrenching story of dark crimes committed against him long ago.
Don't miss this unforgettable hour, "Sins of the Father." That's Monday night, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, on CNN.
LEMON: A blind man all of the sudden has 20/20 vision. Doctors say there's no explanation, but he has one. His story in just about three minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL MCCORD, SIGHT RESTORED: Everything I looked at was different. You know, looking -- you know, looking at the stop sign, it was really red. Food looked different, which made it taste different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: You can call it a freak of nature, something that just happened, but after years in the dark, an Indiana man says his faith has seen the light.
CNN's Jason Carroll has this eye-opening story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nothing like this ever happened in Terre Haute, Indiana. Dr. Nick Rader examined the strange circumstances.
DR. NICK RADER, INDIANA EYE CLINIC: We're scientists, and as doctors we like a scientific explanation for things. And it makes us a little bit uncomfortable when there's something that we can't explain.
CARROLL: It's the mystery of what happened here in the church at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, to this man, Phil McCord. For decades he was legally blind. Instead of 20-20 vision, which is considered normal, McCord's was...
MCCORD: Twenty-eight hundred to 21,000.
CARROLL (on camera): Excuse me, your vision was what?
MCCORD: Twenty-eight hundred in one eye and 21,000.
CARROLL: Legally blind is 2,200. Doctors diagnosed McCord with severe myopia and advanced cataracts. With the help of my photographer and producer...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So tell me what is...
CARROLL: McCord showed us what I would look like through his ailing eyes.
MCCORD: Toward the end, it was probably even a little darker than that.
CARROLL: So could you dim the lights just a bit?
MCCORD: Even actually a little blurrier than that, if you can believe it.
CARROLL: Even a little blurrier than that? MCCORD: Yes, yes.
CARROLL: His world was a dull, dark place of blurry yellow shapes and shadows.
MCCORD: You actually -- you get depressed. It's like being without light.
CARROLL: Surgery corrected his left eye but not the right. Doctors said he needed a cornea transplant. The procedure brought great risks that could have left him permanently blind in that eye.
MCCORD: I'd like to say I was a little anxious. My wife likes to say I was scared to death.
CARROLL: And yet McCord felt he had no choice. Until one day he says organ music drew him inside the church. Of course, he had been there often. He had worked at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College for more than eight years.
But this time was different. This time he felt compelled to pray to a special person, Mother Theodore Guerin, a highly revered nun from France who came to the United States to help the sick and poor. She founded the college in 1841.
MCCORD: I said to Mother Theodore, "If you have any influence with God, if you could exercise it on my behalf, I would be very appreciative."
CARROLL: The next morning McCord woke up and felt better.
MCCORD: I noticed my eye looked a little different. The droop was gone.
CARROLL: His doctor got an even bigger surprise.
MCCORD: He looked and, "Oh."
And I said, "What?"
He said, "I think your eye -- your eye is better."
CARROLL: Doctors told McCord surgery wasn't needed, just a laser treatment to remove old tissue. The cornea underneath had healed itself. His eye now had 20/20 vision.
MCCORD: Everything I looked at was different. You know, looking at a stop sign, it was really red. Food looked different, which made it taste different.
CARROLL: This was not new for Mother Theodore. The Vatican had already attributed a miracle to her in the early 1900s. A nun was seemingly cured overnight of a malignant tumor.
For sainthood, the Vatican needs proof of a virtuous life, which they already have in Mother Theodore, and evidence of two miracles. SISTER MARIE KEVIN TIGHE, SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE: The two miracles are simply -- this is my take on it -- God's seal of approval, because only God can intervene in the laws of nature.
CARROLL: The church formally investigated Phil McCord's case. Was it a second miracle? Theologians testified. So did doctors like Dr. Rader, leading ophthalmologist in Indiana, who told the Vatican he was baffled. There was no scientific explanation.
RADER: Yet I think that's part of the process. You have to look at the facts. I think that it's clear to us something that was going on there.
CARROLL: The Vatican would proclaim it a miracle. Pope Benedict XVI canonized Mother Theodore a saint.
McCord was there to see it. But at times he still wonders if he's really living proof of a miracle.
MCCORD: There's a part of me that still thinks maybe there's something we don't understand. Maybe in a hundred years or 50 years somebody will say, "Oh, well, yes, now I understand how that happens."
CARROLL: It's clear McCord sees his world in a different way. That includes his faith. He's a Baptist but because of St. Mother Theodore, he's now converting to Catholicism.
Jason Carroll, CNN, Terre Haute, Indiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well, one man of faith lost his job over this one. It looks like an ordinary massage table, right? But it's going for hundreds of dollars on eBay. There is a scandal behind this story, and we've got the details straight ahead on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
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LEMON: And good Sunday morning, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, from the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
It is March 11th. Note this -- the time is -- oh, you've got about four seconds. It's going to be 8:00 on the East Coast. 5:00 on the West. 8:00 right now.
LONG: Good morning, I'm Melissa Long in today for Betty and T.J. also off today. Thanks for starting your Sunday morning with us. A newborn baby snatched from the maternity ward, we were telling you about this story yesterday morning. In a frantic search to find the abductor still happening right now.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got a little angry, you know. That so and so I hope you get caught.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: You would be angry to, what if this was your grandmother? Yes, you are seeing correctly a young man, look at that. Punching an elderly woman and police say he has attacked again.
LONG: The city in lock down, major security concerns are surrounding the president's trip to Columbia, a country known for violence and political assignations.
LEMON: But first we start with this, a story that everyone is holding their breath about. Searching for a newborn, snatched from a Texas hospital. It has been more than 30 hours since survelience cameras captured the babies abduction and our very own Keith Oppenheim is joining us this morning from Lubbock, Texas with the latest on this search. Any good news in this Keith?
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not yet Don. And we are waiting for information, police say they are following what they say are credible leads in the search for this newborn baby. The babies name is McCale Darkhard (ph) she is just five pounds and four days old, and vulnerable, she is jaundice, and needs special medical attention. It was at 1:20 am on Saturday morning, just yesterday morning that authorities were alerted that McCale (ph) was abducted; you can see the suspect in survelience video from Lakeside Medical Center. Police describe her as an African-American woman about 5'3" to 5'5" tall, poising as a hospital employee in medical scrubs and that she possibly left in a red pick up truck. With me now is Gwen Stafford is the senior vice president of the Lakeside Medical Center and Gwen I guess the key question is how could something like this have happened here? What happened with security or how could someone have gone in like that?
GWEN STAFFORD, SENIOR V.P., COVENANT MEDICAL CENTER: Well we think the key here is the impersonation of the head scrub zone, everything that would make anyone feel like they were an employee and it is someone has a pretty sophisticated in this particular case.
OPPENHEIM: Does that suggest that this suspect may have had inside knowledge about where to get scrubs or your security here?
STAFFORD: I'm not going to speculate all that, that certain the law enforcement officials that are going to be much better equipped than me.
OPPENHEIM: What about security now at the hospital? Has it changed?
STAFFORD: Well it is heightened, let me tell you that, we do have security officers here, there is an awareness of the staff, physicians, everyone to certainly be alert, the system is still working and we had a crises management team put together immediately to work on how we can improve things.
OPPENHEIM: And Gwen you told me that the family does not want to speak to the media and go on camera yet but what can you say about how they are doing, it must be tough?
STAFFORD: It is terribly tough, they are devastated. My understanding is that the mommy did get a little bit of sleep, which is good. So I think prayers, the grace of god and certainly the media and the public has been wonderful in this. I'm convinced that somehow we are going to find this little one and reunite them.
OPPENHEIM: I hope you are right. Gwen Stafford from Lakeside Medical Center we thank you very much and Don we will keep you updated, obviously the public will be key in this case, people to be on the look out for someone who has a baby, someone perhaps thinks should not have one, that is the kind of report that police need to solve a case just like this one.
Back to you.
LEMON: Yes Keith, I can't imagine what this family is going through, a nightmare certainly for the hospital. I know the police have been cooperating and talking and held a press conference yesterday. Any word on that news conference today at all?
OPPENHEIM: Actually I'm going to ask Gwen. Have you heard about any police news conferences that are scheduled for today or you don't know?
STAFFORD: I don't know, but my hope is that we will have an update. I think it would be courteous to the public and the media. So I think at 8:00 this morning I was going to get the Lieutenant and see if we can do something, so I think this would be the courteous thing to do.
OPPENHEIM: OK, thank you very much Gwen. You are hearing it right here and it is obviously a fluent situation where the hospital and the police are trying to figure out how to get information out as effectively as possible.
LEMON: Keith Oppenheim on top of this story for us in Lubbock, Texas, you saw from 8:00 Central for it as well. Thank you so much for that. LONG: Next story will certainly get you talking, wondering what in the world. A mugger viciously assaulting elderly women for their purses, their jewelry adding to the outrage, one of the viscous attacks was captured on video. Sandra Bookman of our affiliate WABC has this next story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSE MORAT: 101 YEAR OLD MUGGING VICTIM: I'm 101 years old, how are you going to run after a mugger?
SANDRA BOOKMAN, WABC CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Rose Morat's face is battered and bruised after a violet struggle with a mugger in the lobby of her Queens's apartment building. The assault was caught on videotape in disturbing details. You can see Rose on the way to church with the help of a walker, the young man she though was opening the door turns on her, punching her repeatedly before taking her purse and rummaging through her pockets. Bleeding profusely the century young woman mustards the strength to try to get her purse back and that is when this thief knocks her and her walker to the ground.
MORAT: I got a little angry, you know. I said oh that so and so, I hope you get caught.
BOOKMAN: As Rose's neighbors rush to her aid police say her attacker jumped on his pink bike and peddled over to the Common Light Tower on 170th Street and found his second victim. Eight five-year-old Solange Elizee who suffers from Parkinson's and also uses a walker. The same suspect rode the elevator up with her, got off one floor below and ran up to Solange's door before she could get inside.
SOLANGE ELIZEE, 85-YEAR OLD MUGGING VICTIM" He began to beat me, beat me in my face. A lot of blood coming out of mouth. BOOKMAN: Solange's chin and arm were injured in the attack, but perhaps most up setting the suspect stole this widow's wedding ring that she has worn for 60 years. The suspect is being described as a male in his 30's.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: New York's police commissioner says and I quote, "We are pulling out all the stops to find him. He's assaulted two defenseless, elderly women. We want to stop him before he strikes again." You can help police to stop him, anyone with information should call 1-800- 577-TIPS, there again the picture from that NYPD, New York Police Department survelience tape as well. Male, somewhere in his 30's, New York Police say they have received more than 1,000 tips so far but keep on calling if you have information.
LEMON: That deadly fire we told you about in the Bronx, well it claims another victim a six-year-old girl that raises the death toll to ten. The girl's mother, her four-year-old brother and her twin baby sister were also killed along with five children from another family. The victims were from the West African nation of Mali, and officials say the fire was started by a space heater. In Chicago authorities want to talk to a woman after a string of fires Saturday with in walking distance of each other. One of those fires near Riggi Field killed four people, witnesses spotted a woman who maybe homeless near three other fires.
LONG: Columbia clamped a clamp down, excuse me, security in the capital of Bogotá is in overdrive. As President Bush is heading there today. Columbia is the third stop on the president's visit to Latin American. The long running battle against rebels and drug cartels has heightened security concerns there. President Bush hopes to bolster a Columbia's president in the fight against insurgents and the drug trade. Columbia is the world's largest cocaine producer. As you see the presidents trip to Latin American set off protests at nearly every stop, but they are already having the demonstrations in Columbia ahead of the president's visit. Venezuela president Hugo Chavez is critising the visit even calling President Bush political dead meat. President Bush has been ignoring Chavez, refusing to even mention him by name.
LEMON: This new video this morning out of Baghdad of a car bomb attack against Shiite pilgrims. At least 31 people were killed and 25 wounded. Iraqi police say the pilgrims were in a mini bus that had just returned from the Shiite holy city of Karbola. Now elsewhere in Iraq a bomb went off inside the Sunni political party headquarters in Mosoual today. At least three people were killed and two wounded in that attack.
LONG: As expected President Bush has signed off on a military request to send 4,400 more troops to Iraq. Now this is in addition to the 21,500 troops he announced in January to go to Iraq. The president is asking Congress for $3.2 billion more dollars to pay for the deployment. The military says the bulk of them will handle detainee operations.
LEMON: He serves this country and he says he would do it again, but then it gets complicated.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would rather do that, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. But being a Catholic I acknowledge that (INAUDIBLE).
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LEMON: A window sticker, get this a window sticker setting off a sticky debate. That story is just ahead.
LONG: And your tax-filing deadline is quickly approaching. Coming up how can you keep more of your own money in your account rather than giving it to Uncle Sam?
LEMON: We can all use that story. That spare tire around your middle, my middle, everybody's middle. Well a lot of people may be related to how much sleep you are getting or not getting. Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains a relationship ahead this Sunday morning.
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LONG: The somber moment to share with you from Spain. A memorial to the victims of the Madrid train bombings was unveiled a short time ago. This to towering glass monument you will see includes condolence messages left in the days after the attacks. It happened three years ago today. The attacker used bombs hidden in backpacks to target commuter trains during the morning rush hour. Those terrorist bombings killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800.
LEMON: You have to see this next story it is a sticker in the back window of a pickup truck and it is also a statement. An Iraq war vet in California decided to share his thoughts on combat for all to see. Then someone called the radio station and reported Bryce Anslinger of CNN affiliate KERO has more from Bakersfield.
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JAZ MCKAY, UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't give them any trouble.
BRYCE ANSLINGER, CORRESPONDENT FROM KERO: Jaz McKAY, calls his show "The Institute of Right Wing Ideology." Which could explain why a caller called in to complain about this decal. It says "lord please forgive me, I committed sins for our freedom."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had to pull over. I was so mad I had to pull over.
MCKAY: All right. I went on a rant because I found it insulting to our troops.
SGT. MATHEW GONZALEZ, SERVED IN IRAQ: Somebody called in to a radio station and they started going off on it and badgering me. They didn't even know the meaning behind it.
ANSLINGER: Sergeant Gonzalez served 13 months in Iraq as an army ranger; he was part of the mission that brought down Saddam Hussein. He said without it serve again if that's what it took to keep his family safe, but that doesn't change how he feels about his religion and what he did on the battlefield.
GONZALEZ: I'm proud to be a vet. And I would do it again in a heartbeat. But being Catholic, I, you knows, I acknowledge that I committed sins.
ANSLINGER: Other vets with different views called the "JAZ MCKAY Show" to disagree with Sergeant Gonzalez.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are putting something like that on your window, you know, you are saying not only is he guilty of sinning but like -- he's calling me a sinner.
MCKAY: That's a very good point.
GONZALEZ: It takes a little bit of thinking outside the box to, you know, critically analyze what I wrote down and had made -- put on my truck.
ANSLINGER: Gonzalez says for all the criticism he has received over the past few days, he has had many people thank him for his service and the message he displays on his truck.
GONZALEZ: You will be surprised how many people a day stop and thank me. Yes, every once in a while you get those people that don't understand it and give me a finger a lot people thank me. You know what, I think -- I thank vets myself every time I see one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Well that was reporter Bryce Anslinger from KERO and you know they held an online vote after airing that report. It is not specific or scientific, of course, but asked whether the words on a soldier's truck are disrespectful, 90 percent of respondents said no.
LONG: Tax deadline is a little more than a month away now. What you need to know. Now though to save yourself some money, but trying to stay healthy.
DR. SANJYA GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks guys, we are here in the CNN newsroom and we are going beyond the headlines, the medical news. We are looking for solutions in the veterans' health crisis.
And sleep it is the issue this weekend as we move an hour and spring forward. Could lack of sleep make you gain weight? So for your booster shot of medical news don't touch that remote, tune into "House Calls" at 8:30.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you can come out Sara is going to be using weights, but you can come out to a side lunge. Try it Sara, coming out.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If you want to look great from the rear, side lunges are key in an age-defying glute workout.
ROBERT DOTHARD, FITNESS TOGETHER TRAINER: The lunge to effectively work and even harder. Let's do one more.
COHEN: Running stadium stairs are also great for lifting and toning the gluts. Because the secret to a tight rear end is training all of the muscles that surround the glutinous maximum.
DOTHARD: If you truly want to make your gluts fine, if you lunge out for stadium steps you want to keep the back straight, the eyes are on the horizon, eyes are up and of course that 90-degree angle.
COHEN: Lunges or leg presses are great substitute when stairs are not available. You can add resistance with a medicine ball or body bar for maximum lower-body results. A healthy mix of cardio and weight training incorporating squats lunges and leg presses can help you achieve great gluts.
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN
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LONG: Lets prevent Uncle Sam from taking it all. Perhaps you are getting ready to do your taxes. Hoping to keep more of that money. The tax deadline is fast approaching. So this morning we brought in an expert with tips to help you to cut that tax bill, up with us early this morning Tom Herman of the "Wall Street Journal" joins us live from New York. Tom good morning to you.
TOM HERMAN, "WALL STREET JOURNAL:" Good morning Melissa.
LONG: In an ideal situation, they have been organized all year and they have all the paperwork filed away. But then let's look at reality, a lot of people are not that organized. As we try to get all the papers together, what are the key deductions you really need to keep in mind this year? HERMAN: Well Melissa filing your taxes never is fun. This year it is more confusing than ever. The forms look basically the same. There are subtle new twists you have to keep in mind. This year, make sure you take a look at your tax return and look for something called the telephone excise tax refund, it is new and government studies are showing that millions of people that already filed forgot to claim it.
LONG: How do you claim it? I see it goes back to bills from March of 2003?
HERMAN: That's right. There are two very simple methods. One is to take the standard IRS amount and that's between $30 and $60 depending on how many exemptions you have. However a lot of people I know are actually going through their old phone bills and take a look at how much they actually paid. One person I know from California paid $230 in taxes. He's claiming that amount, plus interest. You are allowed to do that. You can choose either one. It is much easier to take the standard amount. But the point is that millions of people who have already filed forgot to take it completely. The IRS is surprised about that.
LONG: I don't know a lot of people that hold on to their phone bills from March of 2003. Maybe for the last few months, but dating back that far?
HERMAN: Even if you saved your phone bill for last year, just take a look at that and the chances are good it may be more than the $30 or $60 the IRS allows you.
LONG: Don't forget about that refund. What about student loans, dependents, anything important to know?
HERMAN: Well there is even a bigger and broader one. The government studies have shown that a lot of people overpay because they take what's called the standard deduction. That's much easier to take. But there is another choice. You can do what's called itemizing and that's things like medical deductions or charitable donations or state and local taxes. Lots of people don't realize that you can take that and a lot of people overpay because of that. It is not that complicated.
LONG: You mentioned the flexible spending account, you do have deadline, and the clock is ticking to use up all the money you have allocated to that account.
HERMAN: Many companies, including one I worked for, extended the deadline until March 15th for last year. If you haven't used up your flexible spending account, get those bills in. You can use them for things like aspirin; you can use them for eyeglasses or sunglasses. You have to have them by March 15th.
LONG: Also, perhaps you allocated too much. Maybe revise how much you contribute in subsequent years.
HERMAN: Absolutely right. If you contributed too much and you lost some of that, just cut the amount for the coming year. That's right. You want to make sure you don't overpay and lose that money. LONG: And Tom we are out of time but don't forget as well the deadline gives you two more days this year.
HERMAN: That is right April 17th.
LONG: Tom Herman from "The Wall Street Journal." Thank you so much waking up early with us this morning, we appreciate it.
Did you get your taxes done?
HERMAN: No. We always file for an extension. You can get a six-month extension till mid October. I suggest a lot of investors do that because again there are a lot mistakes this year on dividends, 1099 forms, so when in doubt file for that extension.
LONG: Sound advice. Thanks Tom.
LEMON: I hope he set his clock ahead.
LONG: Well he's on time for the interview. I think so.
LEMON: Well it is a view of the Grand Canyon that is that not everyone thinks is so grand.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is 4,000 feet down. If you look over there at the Empire State Building that is 1,200 feet up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four thousand feet that's way too long to think about before you hit at the bottom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Wow, Melissa said she would do this. CNN's Jeanne Moos considers sky walking straight ahead this Sunday morning.
We have been telling you all morning, spring forward and fall back. What about your dieting goals? Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming up with this surprising connection between losing sleep and gaining weight.
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LEMON: See it there the new Grand Canyon sky walking, a chance to have walk on air or a bridge too far out. Depends on how you look at it. Well CNN's Jeanne Moos takes a look at it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It is like no other u- turn you have ever taken. A u-turn in the sky above the Grand Canyon. A see-through sidewalk made of glass meant for tourists.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think I would go on that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would soil myself.
MOOS: That's no way to talk about the just installed Grand Canyon skywalk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is like walking in the air.
MOOS: A private developer built the skywalk. But the Indian tribe owns it since it is on an Indian Reservation. The Indians blessed the project when the skywalk was pulled into place by trucks and cable.
ROBERT BRAVO JR, MGR., GRAND CANYON WEST: (INAUDIBLE)
MOOS: We are talking three inches of glass floor. High atop a more traditional observation deck the top of the rock above Rockefeller Center. Just a picture of the skywalk sent shivers through some.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got shivers thinking about it.
MOOS: Butterflies thinking about it, it is 4,000 feet down. If you look over there at the Empire State Building and that's 1,200 feet up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four thousand feet that's way too long to think about before you hit at the bottom.
MOOS: It is enough to give you vertigo. The Grand Canyon skywalk doesn't open until later this month when the first ceremonial steps on the skywalk will be taken by one of the first astronauts to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin. Instead of a giant leap for mankind critics think the skywalk is a giant leap backwards.
ROBERT ARNBERGER, SKYWALK OPPONENT: Nothing more than a thrill rides, pursuing the almighty dollar a blemish on the face of the canyon.
MOOS: This is one blemish many seem eager to pop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heck, yeah, that would be sweet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would do it in a heartbeat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would be fantastic.
MOOS: The Indians say they need the tourist dollars the skywalk will attract. It will cost more than $25 to walk this glass plank. You have to wear special booties to protect the glass. They are going to give you special booties to wear so you don't scratch the glass.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or slip.
MOOS: I can see you are nervous. Why stop at handing out booties?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Valium.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have to have some sort of straps.
MOOS: To get a view better than this you would have to be Thelma and Louise. Jeanine Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: You wouldn't do it?
LEMON: No. Not at all.
LONG: I think it looks exciting.
LEMON: Maybe after two cocktails.
LONG: Well coming up, we are going to talk about your weight and we are going to talk about tie with your stomach to springing ahead.
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