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CNN Sunday Morning
Rescue at Sea; Pope Laments War in Iraq During Easter Address; Indiana Church Fire; Infant Dies in Police Chase; Sesame Street Workshop Helps Kids With Deployed Parents
Aired April 08, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone in a cruise and life jacket came up running up the stairs screaming. Women and children on the lifeboats! And they actually do that.
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T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: They actually do that when the ship is actually sinking.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Which this one did.
HOLMES: It absolutely did. Dramatic new pictures of that Greek cruise ship as it begins to sink, and survivor stories. That's straight ahead.
NGUYEN: Also, some Easter egg hunts out there, so check out this snowy scene in Ohio. Good luck finding those Easter eggs. Did you find a snow bunny? Chilly forecast, straight ahead.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I heard was the surgeon yell very loudly to call 911.
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HOLMES: That might scare you a little bit if your surgeon yells call 911. Yes, the surgeon, at a Texas hospital had to call for help. We'll tell you how one man's post-op recovery turned deadly. Fascinating story.
On this Sunday, happy Easter to you. Happy Easter, everybody. It's April 8th, good morning to you all from the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen.
We want to thank you for being with us today. There's a lot to tell you about, including this, we do want to start this morning with some new details on the disastrous Greek cruise ship voyage. The captain and five crew members, they are charged. And now the cruise ship owners may be sued over the environmental impact. Meanwhile though, some of the survivors are starting to arrive home here in the U.S., ready to share their stories and pictures with us. CNN's Veronica de la Cruz has the story.
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VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The last moments of the Sea Diamond as it capsizes close to the Greek island of Santorini early on Friday morning. Arriving home in New York, some of the cruise liner's passengers talk about their sudden end to their vacation and their lucky escape.
MARYANN SALERNO, PASSENGER: I was lost from all my friends, 38 of them. I was by myself on the ship the whole time.
DE LA CRUZ: Some had praise for the way the emergency was handled.
MARY HENDERSON, PASSENGER: The crew was wonderful. They were absolutely wonderful. DE LA CRUZ: Others spoke of confusion.
DAVID WEAVER, PASSENGER: They were trying to get the life boats down, which was a chore, and then they had to get the mechanics there to get them rolling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were not prepared. No, the staff was not prepared for an emergency like this.
DE LA CRUZ: Some passengers could even smile about the experience.
BARBARA NEIL, PASSENGER: Then when we saw all the crew with life vests on, we knew something was really not good.
DE LA CRUZ: Passengers lost everything they had taken on vacation when the ship went down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my luggage!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all brought jewelry and everything, and it's all down there. We don't care at this point.
DE LA CRUZ: Several did bring home video of their dramatic escape. All came home with the same thought.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are home safe to talk about it now. That's what matters.
DE LA CRUZ: Back in Greece, the captain and five other senior crew members of the Sea Diamond have been charged with negligence. His ship lies at the bottom of Santorini's volcanic lagoon.
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NGUYEN: Well, the pageantry of Easter is on full display at Christian churches around the world today. This was Easter mass at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. Pope Benedict spoke out against during the bloodshed in Iraq during his traditional address in a speech seen in 67 countries around the world. The pope lamented that quote, "nothing positive comes from the ongoing conflict in Iraq." He also condemned terrorists who used religion to justify violence.
HOLMES: Meanwhile in Jerusalem, Orthodox Christians mark the holiday with services at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Orthodox Church believe this is the site of Jesus's burial, chamber and his resurrection.
NGUYEN: And to Britain now, where you will see Queen Elizabeth arriving for Easter services at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. Nice little bonnet there. The chapel dates back more than 650 years to the year 1348. The present chapel was built in 1475 by Edward IV.
HOLMES: And right here in our own backyard, and just outside of Atlanta, a lot of folks braving this unseasonably chilly weather to attend sunrise service atop Stone Mountain. Even with the cold, the view nothing less than inspirational. They have been doing that atop Stone Mountain for some 60 years now. The tradition continues again. That's just east of Atlanta.
Also to Chicago now, where the cardinal there is holding an unexpected Easter mass this morning. There he is. That's Cardinal Francis George. He's going to preside over an Easter mass at the hospital.
NGUYEN: At the hospital?
HOLMES: The 70-year-old cardinal fractured his hip Saturday while blessing Easter baskets. This is some of the immediate aftermath, pictures that were taken.
The spokeswoman for the Chicago archdiocese, Betty, says the cardinal slipped on what else? Holy water of all things. Well, he finished up the basket blessings before heading to the hospital, said to be doing all right, but he is going to have to do the mass from the hospital.
NGUYEN: Well you know what, T.J., they are dealing with an Easter weekend disaster in Indiana. Check this out. St. Anne Catholic Church in New Castle, badly damaged by fire. We brought some of the first pictures to you yesterday. A criminal investigation is actually underway this morning. Meanwhile, the parishioners say they will carry on with Easter services at a middle school.
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SISTER SHIREY GERTH, ST. ANNE CATHOLIC CHURCH: We are an Easter people. And we will sing our hallelujahs and new life will come about as a result of this.
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NGUYEN: Coming up in just a few minutes, we're going to take you live to New Castle for more on how people are spending their Easter Sunday without their church.
HOLMES: A lot of people going to be spending this Easter Sunday with big old coats and jackets and hoods and everything else on. It's cold.
NGUYEN: It feels more like Christmas outside in many places. But you definitely want to dress for today. We want to give you the scene in Virginia. Along the coast there, no, no day at the beach, absolutely not. Check that out. Snow and ice conditions blamed for one traffic death in Virginia and a warning. Cold temperatures could last another several days in parts of the east.
Now, look at this, Lubbock, Texas, right there. Can you believe it? Where it looks more like, as I mentioned, Christmas than Easter. Some parts of Texas won't warm up that much today and could actually be in for more snow. Even Crawford, where President Bush is spending the holiday, got some rare April snow.
HOLMES: Yes, so what's wrong with this picture? Somewhere amid all that snow, the annual Easter egg hunt is going on in high gear.
NGUYEN: Yes, I see the basket right there, but where are the eggs?
HOLMES: You see a basket?
NGUYEN: Right at the bottom, toward the right side.
HOLMES: I can't even make out kids really in that picture. More than 100 kids dug through six inches of fresh snow to make this maybe one of the most memorable Easter egg hunts in the history of Chardon, Ohio. That's where that's going on.
NGUYEN: You know what's going to happen Reynolds, he's been following all of this weather -- once it starts to get really nice outside, bright and sunny, they are going to smell what they weren't able to find today.
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NGUYEN: We do want to get back to this story though because churchgoers in one Indiana town now holding Easter services without their church. A Saturday fire destroyed St. Anne Catholic Church in Newcastle, Indiana. Here's what left of it, as some of the video that we brought you first yesterday.
Local law enforcement and federal agents are investigating this matter and for more, we want to go live to Newcastle. Lynsay Clutter of affiliate WTHR standing by for us this morning. One of the big questions yesterday Lynsay, is any idea how this started?
LYNSAY CLUTTER, WTHR CORRESPONDENT: No, right now they think that maybe it could have started in the basement, but they don't know exactly how. They need to pump out all of the water from the basement of the church and then they're going to get their fire investigators in there to really try and determine.
They aren't saying arson right now. But they do believe that criminal activity was involved and while they work on their investigation, parishioners, of course, are just trying to gather again and renew their faith as they start Easter services here this morning.
And right now, they are taking place here behind me. You might be able to hear the music. The songs of praise and the prayers, 750 parishioners this morning gathered at 8:00 a.m. This is the Bundy Auditorium, here at the Newcastle Middle School. This is where they all gather today, in exchange for the church that was destroyed.
The message today, renewing their faith after such a great loss. From the ashes of their church, new life will come. They are an Easter people.
And as you saw in our video, the flames broke out yesterday morning inside St. Anne Catholic Church. It is a Newcastle landmark for more than eight decades. Just after 7 a.m., the smoke was seen inside the church, and then within minutes it just spread, destroying their beautiful stained glass windows, the roof caved in. Damages estimated at $1.5 million. But during the service today, Sister Shirley Gerth with the church showed now only her great emotion and heartbreak, but also strength as she led the parish to keep the faith.
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GERTH: Yes, we have suffered a great loss, and, yes, we will grieve together. And it's natural for us to ask the question why. But I challenge you today to ask not why, but to ask how. How can we take what has happened and cause and help and enable new life to arise?
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CLUTTER: And that is the hope now that parishioners are now leaving with. That is the hope that they are now leaving with as the service here has just wrapped up. They have a lot of hope as they move on and try and find another place, as they build a new church. This morning, the archbishop called other churches from around central Indiana saying their churches will have their Easter Sunday collections go towards their parish. Reporting live in Newcastle, Lynsay Clutter -- Betty, back to you.
NGUYEN: Well, nice to see them pulling together and from the video that we were able to got out of the fire yesterday, it seems like the outer structure may be salvageable. We'll see. Thank you Lynsay, we appreciate it. T.J.?
HOLMES: Meanwhile, we take to you Texas now where a high-speed chase ends with an infant killed and a mother under arrest. Police near Ft. Worth are still trying to figure out why the mother sped away. Chris Hawes of CNN affiliate WFAA reports.
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CHRIS HAWES, WFAA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sometime around 5:30, police say Amy Riza started driving this SUV so dangerously in Summerville County, that other drivers called 911. The chase was on. Riza raced east.
EARL GILLUM, TEXAS PUBLIC SAFETY DEPT: The Cleveland police department spiked, used the stinger spike system to take out a couple of tires on the SUV.
HAWES: But she kept going, ripping what was left of the tires to shreds, careening along US-67.
GILLUM: At speeds over 100 miles-an-hour, up to 110 miles-per- hour.
HAWES: It ended here in Alvaredo.
GILLUM: She started weaving back and forth, struck the center median.
HAWES: The SUV flipped. A baby was thrown from it. That's when this trooper says, everyone realized Riza's infant daughter had been inside the entire time. Medics tried to save her, fly her to a Ft. Worth hospital, but doctors there pronounced her dead. She was just nine months old. Chris Hawes, Channel 8 news.
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HOLMES: All right, we're going to give you a bit of an update here on the story we told you about yesterday, a flight grounded by a foul-mouthed pilot. Some more details now, you'll remember this guy. Northwest Airlines flight from Vegas was canceled when the pilot started lobbing f-bombs all over the face. First, he was doing it on his cell phone, then apparently at a passenger. He was yanked off the plane. The FAA is taking a closer look and could take away his pilot's license. Northwest is also investigating this incident.
NGUYEN: Well, no f-bombs here. We'll tell you that right now.
HOLMES: How do we go from f-bombs to Sesame Street, which is now taking on more than the ABCs.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the matter son?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elmo doesn't what to say, daddy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's OK, son. You don't have to say anything. I'm just happy to be here with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Elmo too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A new special is taking a closer look at how to help children handle a parent's deployment. We've got a preview of that coming up.
NGUYEN: Also, everyday low prices evidently weren't enough for this Wal-Mart shopper, who was running out of store. We'll show you why, straight ahead.
And this.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very lucky to be back with my family after all these years.
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HOLMES: Yes, fans of "The Sopranos," we are the lucky ones for nine more episodes at least. Forget about touching that dial. Stay right here with CNN SUNDAY MORNING, because we are going to be right back.
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NGUYEN: Dropping things?
HOLMES: Let me get that for you, I'm sorry about that, Betty.
NGUYEN: As we get it together, we do want to bring you up to speed on this morning's top videos at CNN.com. No. 1 is this dramatic video out of New Mexico of a high speed train racing through a wall of wildfire.
HOLMES: Yes, that wow'ed us yesterday. We had it on several times on the air in our newscast yesterday. Also No. 2, the unusual story of a man in his sixties who adopted a coworker in her forties as his daughter. I can't really explain that one. You are going to have to check that one out for yourself to believe it.
NGUYEN: Well, he can explain this one. No, 3 this morning is T.J.'s report on a town that is segregated by choice.
HOLMES: Some other things going on there as well.
NGUYEN: He goes there to find out why the mostly African- American community wants to keep it that way.
HOLMES: Also another story here, the sinking of the cruise ship in Greece continues to generate interest. New video from passengers of the sinking round out today's top four.
NGUYEN: It is probably the most anticipated premiere on cable television. T.J. is set and ready for it when it comes back on the air.
HOLMES: Cannot wait. After tonight, though it is going to be all over just about. The last season of "The Sopranos." CNN's Sibila Vargas examines the legacy that is "The Sopranos."
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JAMES GANDOLFINI, ACTOR: There's two endings for a guy like me, high profile guy, dead or in the can.
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They redefined family television. As HBO's long running dramatic series, the "Sopranos" premiers its final episodes starting this Sunday night. It marks the beginning of the end of an era in prime time.
Almost as soon as the "Sopranos" debuted in 1999, the show became a hit with both critics and fans, earning Emmy nominations for outstanding dramatic series and generating previously unheard of ratings for HBO. Series creator David Chase says the success of the "Sopranos" has more than exceeded his expectations.
DAVID CHASE, SERIES CREATOR: It's our goal to be able to do a show where people couldn't guess what was going to happen next, where you wouldn't be ahead of the plot because you've seen it 50 times. I hoped that it turned out that way.
VARGAS: Eight years, dozens of awards and nearly 80 episodes later, the show's cast recently gathered in New York to celebrate and say good-bye. Edie Falco who plays Tony Soprano's long suffering wife Carmela says working on a series was an experience unlike any other.
EDIE FALCO, "CARMELA SOPRANO": This is really hard. I never had a job for 10 years before, any job. And I have grown very attached to these people.
VARGAS: For viewers, the "Sopranos" became appointment television, a Sunday night tradition.
AIDA TURTURRO, "JANICE SOPRANO": One of the things is when people say, wow, we all get together with our family and watch it or our friends. And in that way, bringing people together to watch the show, it brings like family together.
VARGAS: The "Sopranos" also brought new attention to HBO which in turn allowed the network to develop other successful original series including "Sex in the City" and Deadwood."
LORRAINE BRACCO, "DR. JENNIFER MELFI": I really hope in my heart and believe in my heart that we raised the bar.
MICHAEL IMPERIOLI, "CHRISTOPHER MOLTISANTI": I think people have become more willing to take risks with programming.
VARGAS: Craig Tomashoff, "TV Guide's" resident expert on all things "Sopranos" agrees.
CRAIG TOMASHOFF, TV GUIDE: The "Sopranos" didn't shy away from language or subject matter. It just made it a little freer I think for all of TV to be a little bolder.
"Rescue Me" is like the perfect example I think of the "Sopranos" legacy. They only have to do 13 episodes in a year. They can really push the boundaries of topics and language and get more attention.
VARGAS: And while fans will certainly be paying attention to the way things end for the "Sopranos," creator David Chase, it remains an unfinished symphony.
CHASE: We're still shooting the last one and we've yet to edit three, four or five of them. So I can't really say that I'm completely satisfied because it's still a work in progress.
VARGAS: Sibila Vargas, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right, so their slogan is always low, low prices, but some customers -- one in particular is not willing to pay that low price.
Check this out, this guy on the surveillance videotape catches him in a Wal-Mart in Florida. Police say he actually just walked up to the jewelry counter and asked to see a diamond ring of all things, grabbed it and split.
That lucky gal who gets that ring, not so lucky, because he didn't make it past the jewelry counter before he just sped to his car and got in and took off. But here is the thing. They caught him on surveillance and some folks, the police AKA, would like to fit him with some new jewelry, that being handcuffs.
HOLMES: You never know the story behind that. Maybe he wanted to get a nice ring. Maybe he had good intentions kind of thing.
NGUYEN: He's running out of the store.
HOLMES: But the diamond ring for the woman.
NGUYEN: Maybe she's waiting in the car.
HOLMES: I don't know. Maybe he proposed by now even. But we're going to talk about the Easter bunny now.
Is the Easter bunny actually doing to Easter what Santa Claus did to Christmas?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a silly little symbol and should never take the place of the true meaning of Easter, which is resurrection Sunday.
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HOLMES: OK, it is kind of silly. It's the big old bunny. We're going to take a closer look at how Easter and the bunny got all mixed up together.
NGUYEN: And take a look at this, a lot of work went into this display. Wow, look at that we'll show you more. All of those are actually eggs. Watch where you step. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues.
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NGUYEN: Is the Easter bunny ruining the real meaning of the holiday? Well, ask your average five year old, T.J. not included and they say they don't really care.
HOLMES: We want to find some eggs and some candy actually Betty, but some grown ups seem to be taking the issue more seriously. CNN's Carol Costello takes a look.
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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The Christian Cultural Center in south Brooklyn comes alive with the spirit of Easter -- resurrection, renewal, rebirth. But just a few blocks away, some Christians are celebrating Easter of a different kind, where bunnies fill baskets with brightly-colored eggs.
Hey, is that Jesus over there beyond the eggs?
REV. A.R. BERNARD, CHRISTIAN CULTURAL CENTER: It is a silly little symbol and should never take the place of the true meaning of Easter, which is Resurrection Sunday.
COSTELLO: The Easter bunny is under attack by some Christians who worry the bunny is doing to the resurrection what Santa did to Christmas.
BERNARD: It's the growth of religious pluralism and secularism in American culture. Vestiges of these Pagan celebrations began to come back in and threaten the original meaning of Easter to the American culture and the American population.
COSTELLO: And it's not just religious folks. St. Paul, Minnesota, removed the Easter bunny from city hall because it was too religious. People decorated the entrance with marshmallow peeps in protest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Easter -- Easter is one thing, but the Easter bunny is something else.
COSTELLO: Paul Lauer, whose company marketed "The Passion of the Christ," is defending the bunny in an e-mail campaign to 100,000 Christians.
PAUL LAUER, MOTIVE MARKETING: If we expect the general secular mainstream culture to accept certain aspects of our religious expression in public life, we need to accept some degree of mainstream expression of how they celebrate these holidays.
COSTELLO: It's not clear how Easter and the bunny got mixed up with the Christian resurrection. Easter is the name of a non- Christian fertility goddess, Ishtar. Eggs and rabbits are signs of fertility.
TERRENCE TILLEY, THEOLOGY PROFESSOR, FORDHAM UNIV.: The word may come from a word for a spring goddess in German, "Eostre," or it may come from a mistranslation.
COSTELLO: But even some Christians would like a little less rabbit and a little more religion.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not the birth of a bunny or an egg, you know. It's for Jesus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, they're cute. Everybody likes them. But it's not about the bunny. Easter is not about bunnies. It's about Jesus.
COSTELLO: Carol Costello, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well of course, in many American homes, today you'll see a big traditional spread laid out for family and friends, the first family no exception.
NGUYEN: OK, so here is a little peek into the Crawford ranch kitchen and what the president and Mrs. Bush will be sitting down to eat for brunch today.
I know you're at the edge of your seat and you want to see the menu.
HOLMES: Tell us, please.
NGUYEN: Here you go. Texas grapefruit, avocado and mozzarella salad, along with T.J., some ham and your favorite green chili cheese grits souffle.
HOLMES: I don't know about that one.
NGUYEN: Whatever that is. Some sweet potatoes, a little roasted asparagus.
HOLMES: Didn't have that either.
NGUYEN: You didn't have that either? What about some local cheese?
HOLMES: Local cheese?
NGUYEN: You've got plenty of cheese, my friend. And with cake and a little ice cream for dessert. There you go, you hungry?
HOLMES: Not after hearing about the chili, the souffle -- green chili souffle?
NGUYEN: OK, to each his own. So here are some words that you should never, ever hear at the hospital.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I heard was the surgeon yell very loudly to call 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And were you stunned that here you are in a hospital and they are calling 911?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I can remember saying is looking at him and saying you've got to be kidding?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: But they weren't kidding. Can you believe that? They called 911 and they were standing in the hospital. Details on a harrowing hospital incident, that is straight ahead.
HOLMES: Also, the war in Iraq being felt within the walls of Buckingham Palace as Prince William loses a close friend to the fighting. We'll have that story, also this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know what today is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thursday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, yes, it is Thursday. But it's also that day we talked about. The day I have to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: It is a scenario that is all too familiar to service families, and right now, we're going to show you how to say good-bye to their kids when they ship out because Sesame Street has a new program that is helping parents explain the absences. We'll show you some of that in our next half hour.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the doctor has gone home for the day, when Steve lost the ability to breathe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: It is a nightmare scenario for a patient recovering from scheduled surgery and what the doctors had to do to cope with the emergency. That is going to astound you. Welcome you back on this Easter morning, hello everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. Gary Tuchman's report on that is just straight ahead.
First, Easter for Christians in Iraq. These are some of the pictures we have coming in of Easter observances in Baghdad, this was taken outside a church. Children lighting candles there.
NGUYEN: And this was taken inside a Baghdad church. Nearly 1.5 million Christians called Iraq home before the war. It's unclear how many of them remain.
Take a look at this. War observes no holidays. An explosion in Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, has killed at least 15 people and wounded more than 26. Meanwhile, U.S. commanders this morning announcing four more American deaths in Iraq. Those fatalities bring the U.S. death toll there to 3,274 since the war began.
HOLMES: British military leaders are reviewing operations in Basra, this comes just a few days after four British soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. One of those killed was a good friend of Prince William. The prince is said to be deeply saddened by the death. ITN's Keir Simmons has more.
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KEIR SIMMONS, REPORTER, ITN (voice over): Second Leftenant Joanna Dyer was 24 years old. She was enormously talented, graduating from Oxford University before going to Sandhurst at the same time as Prince William. She was a close friend of his, and he is said to be deeply saddened. Her family come from Yeovil, in Somerset, a small place where many local people knew her and many will miss her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think a lot of people know who actually goes out there. When you realize it's people from a little village like this, it's quite a shock for the whole village.
SIMMONS: Another corner of England mourning for its dead across the sea because three others from three other towns and villages were also killed -- Army medic Private Eleanor Dlugosz, Kingsman Adam Smith, both of who were only 19, and Corporal Kris O'Neill.
MICHAEL O'NEILL, BROTHER OF KRIS O'NEILL: We were extremely proud of the job he did, and we were proud of the job he did. When we joined the army, it made him a better person, so to speak. It was his career that he realized he wanted to do he. He was much loved. I've never known anybody talk a bad word about Kris.
SIMMONS: The roadside bomb that killed them on Thursday blew apart the warrior armored vehicle they were traveling in. The civilian interpreter they were traveling with also died.
Military commanders are reviewing their tactics as the improvised devices planted by insurgents in Iraq become more and more powerful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, immigration rights are the issue here. Thousands gathered in Los Angeles yesterday, condemning President Bush's immigration plan. The protesters marched through downtown L.A. carry signs that read, "Amnesty Now." At the heart of this protest, the White House plan requiring illegal immigrants returned home to apply for U.S. residency and then pay a $10,000 fine. Critics say the price is just too high.
HOLMES: In Arizona, a police raid nets at least 70 suspected illegal immigrants. Authorities in Peoria, outside Phoenix, say it was pretty tough to coax the surrender of the suspended smugglers. A couple barricaded them in the house. One gave up only after police fired tear gas into that home.
NGUYEN: OK, so this is the last thing you think would happen inside a hospital. OK? A patient needing emergency care, and the doctor calls 911 for help?
HOLMES: You don't want to hear that if you are that patient. But that's exactly what happened at one Texas hospital and CNN's Gary Tuchman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Steve Spivey's father, his mother, and wife. What they went through when Steve was in the hospital was harrowing.
TRACY SPIVEY, PATIENT'S WIFE: He was panicking, very scared. I had never seen that kind of fear in his eyes. Ever.
TUCHMAN: Steve Spivey, a father of three, was in this Abilene, Texas, hospital for neck surgery after a truck accident. The operation seemed to go well. But the 44-year-old started to choke that night. His wife was at his side.
SPIVEY: The nurses felt like he was just having a panic attack, and the last words he said were, no, I'm in trouble.
TUCHMAN: The hospital Spivey was in is one of about 140 in the country owned by the physicians who work there, but all the doctors had gone home for the day when Steve lost the ability to breathe.
SPIVEY: His eyes were bright green, and they turned very dark, his face turned dark, and he grasped my hands and shook them like this, looked me in my eyes. And then closed his eyes and went out. That was his last breath.
TUCHMAN: Tracy Spivey kept yelling to call a doctor, but in the meantime, incredibly, she says she performed CPR by herself for 15 minutes.
SPIVEY: There was no pulse. I checked, you know, three different places for pulse and could find none. I told them, we have no pulse. One of the nurses said, what's wrong? What's happening? And I said, he's dying.
TUCHMAN: About two hours after Steve started gagging, the surgeon arrived.
SPIVEY: All I heard was the surgeon yell very loudly to call 911.
TUCHMAN (on camera): Were you stunned that here you are in a hospital and they are calling 911?
SPIVEY: All I can remember saying is, looking at him and saying, you've got to be kidding.
TUCHMAN: Steve Spivey was pronounced dead at a different hospital. This week, Tracy went back to the hospital with her attorney as they met with a hospital lawyer in preparation for a likely lawsuit.
DARRELL KEITH, SPIVEY FAMILY ATTORNEY: I look forward to being their champion.
TUCHMAN: Darrell Keith is her lawyer.
KEITH: Well, I think that physician-owned hospitals as a general rule, tend to be more profit driven than patient safety driven.
TUCHMAN: After the death of Steve Spivey, the federal government decided to no longer allow the use of Medicare at this hospital, and now the facility is shut down. The hospital's CEO did not want to go on camera but did tell us, "911 is a last resort in Mr. Spivey's case. We were trying to get the patient to a higher level of care." He also said the facility may reopen some day in a different form.
At another physician-owned hospital in Arlington, Texas --
GREG WEISS, CHMN, USMD HOSPITAL AT ARLINGTON: If we treat every patient like a family member, the patients will want to come here, the referring doctors will want to refer here.
TUCHMAN: Doctors are in the facility around the clock. The physicians here at USMD reject the broad-brush criticism they hear about doctors owning hospitals and have immense pride in their facility.
DR. JOHN HOUSE, PHYSICIAN/OWNER, USMD HOSPITAL: If we want a place where we can take care of our patients the way that we want to take care of our family members, and we have the ability to do that by owning and controlling our own facility.
TUCHMAN: But some members of Congress want to take a closer look at how these types of hospitals are regulated.
REP. PETE STARK, (D-CA): The hospitals are often second rate, sometimes illegal. And it takes profitable business away from community hospitals.
TUCHMAN: Tracy Spivey still has nightmares about when she told her 10- year-old daughter the horrifying news.
SPIVEY: I just pulled her in my lap and held her. And told her I needed her to be real strong. And I said, baby girl, our daddy got very sick. Our daddy is not coming home.
TUCHMAN: Tracy still can't believe a hospital had to dial 911.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Abilene, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Very sad story.
HOLMES: An unbelievable story, really.
Well, we're going to move on here to talk a little about the Iraq war, how you explain it to the little ones, sometimes. It's certainly one thing to hear politicians and citizens talk about bringing troops home. But to hear how deployment affects the little ones in their own words, that could just be heartbreaking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd be like, I can't wait to hug you, um, I miss you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: When parents leave for war. Now Sesame Street is helping make the conversation about war a little easier.
NGUYEN: And later, Easter eggs as art. Yes, these hand-crafted masterpieces carry special messages. We'll tell you about it in the "Water Cooler."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never like him to leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Call to war and leaving home, it is a soldier's duty, but explaining war and deployment to young children can be so very heart wrenching. But now there is a way parents can help their children understand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know what today is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thursday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, yes, yes, it is Thursday. But it's also that day we talk besides. The day I have to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yeah. Daddy has to go away for lots and lots of days, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right, son.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Sesame Street is one of the most highly regarded educational shows for children on television and programs like "Talk, Listen, Connect" is part of the reason why.
Gary Knell is president and CEO of Sesame Workshop, and he joins us from New York today to talk about this program that really helps children deal with a parent who is deployed. And we appreciate you being on the show us with here today. Thank you.
GARY KNELL, SESAME WORKSHOP: Good morning, happy Easter.
NGUYEN: Good morning, happy Easter to you.
Well first of all, before we get to that DVD where you see Elmo, and kids can really understand what's happening, what are you about to do this month is help educate parents on the best way to talk to their children about deployment. Talk to us today about the program that is going to be airing a little bit later this month.
KNELL: Well Betty, there are 700,00 kids, preschool kids of active duty military and guard and reserves. And we learn through a process at Sesame Street where we focus on kids' needs that they really do need to do exactly what this is called about talking, listening, and connecting.
Kids are dealing with issues about predeployment, deployment, and reunification or homecoming this is the largest deployment since World War II, and over 1.5 million soldiers have been deployed.
By the way, both dads and moms who are now over for first, second, third tours of duty. So there's a ton of issues in the house that we've tried to bridge that gap and provide some tools to parents and caregivers so that this is a little easier transition.
NGUYEN: Yes, the program is called "When Parents are Deployed." And you aired it back in December, but you're bringing it back again onto the airwaves this month. Tell us why. Was there a need, an overwhelming response?
KNELL: Well in many cities, it will be airing tomorrow actually. This is the month of the military child. There has been a huge response to this show.
I would say there is nothing I have worked on at Sesame Street that's been more appreciated than this program by our military service and people connected with them.
And the response has been overwhelming. We distributed 400,000 DVD kits through military one source program and through our own Web site and now this program which is really for the broader population was such a hit, that the PBS stations decided to bring it back and show it once again this week.
NGUYEN: Well, we're showing part of that DVD kit, which is part of a bigger initiative, a program to reach out to both parents and children. And you see Elmo there going through the phases of saying good-bye to a parent about to leave and that DVD is called "Talk, Listen, Connect."
How are children reacting? Because most importantly, those are the ones who are really internalizing this, and sometimes they really don't know what to say or how to say it.
KNELL: Well these are indeed, Betty, awkward moments. And for predeployment, there are strategies, for deployment there are strategist, and for homecoming. And it's really about those three things, talking to your children, getting them prepared about what dad or mommy may be off to doing.
Simple things like using a globe, for instance to show where are you going. Listening to them so they can express their feelings and allow them to express some of the fears that they have, so you can talk to them through about how you may be as a soldier prepared to go on a job just as they are prepared to go to school, and then connecting on a regular basis, be it through e-mail, through a call at Easter, whatever so we can bridge that distance a little bit. It's really about filling that awkward moments during this deployment.
NGUYEN: Gary, I want to share with our viewers a little clip from this initiative and helping these children really prepare and understand what they are going through. This is from a little girl whose family has decided to pull out different notes from dad. So take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would read like, I can't wait to hug you. Um, I miss you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: You can just see the look on her face and how heart- wrenching this is for her, for her father to be away at war. By parents sharing some of the different techniques that they are using in your videos, is that really resonating with folks out there?
KNELL: Well, indeed it is. In fact, we just did a study with Purdue University who interviewed hundreds of military personnel and overwhelming, I think 80-90 percent of them said that this was a very important tool.
What we realize at Sesame Workshop, this is not something we've normally done with this audience, but we realize this thing that when a soldier is deployed, the entire family is deployed.
And that is the one message that I think the American public maybe doesn't quite realize in the middle of these conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. And in our little way as a mission-driven organization, we are trying to fill that gap.
NGUYEN: And are you definitely doing it with this program. It's more than just what's airing tomorrow in many cities, but it's also part of a bigger program which includes DVDs that many families can really learn from. Gary Knell, president and CEO of Sesame Workshop, thank you so much for what you're doing and thanks for being here today on this Easter Sunday.
KNELL: My pleasure, thank you.
HOLMES: Well, it's now time for us to check in with Howard Kurtz in Washington to see what's ahead on "RELIABLE SOURCES."
HOWARD KURTZ, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up, John McCain comes under hostile media fire for saying that parts of Baghdad are safe. And also draws negative media headlines for anemic fundraising. Is the press turning on the senator?
Women on the Internet are being intimidated, even silenced by men making sexually expressive threats. Arianna Huffington and other female bloggers talk about the ugly climate. And Rosie O'Donnell's wacky conspiracy theories, is the journalistic establishment giving her a pass? That's all ahead on "RELIABLE SOURCES."
NGUYEN: Coming up, and in the meantime though, I want to pose this to you. Let's say, T.J., that you have 50,000 painted Easter eggs just lying around, what would Scooby Doo? Do you know?
HOLMES: I thought that was what was Scooby's boy's name, Scooby and what? Shaggy.
NGUYEN: Shaggy.
HOLMES: Thank you. Thank you, everybody.
NGUYEN: I think he would run all over those. That's what Scooby would do.
HOLMES: We're going to show you that in just a second. Certainly one family's way of celebrating the holiday. You have to see this thing to believe it. You are you watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, you think Christmas decorations can be over the top? Check out these Easter decorations. This is near Cleveland, Ohio. Folks had a lot of eggs on their hands and apparently a lot of time on their hands as well. There is Shaggy.
NGUYEN: Too much, in fact. The family began this tradition nearly 50 years ago with 750 eggs, and can we say the display has grown to now 50,000 eggshells?
HOLMES: That's a lot of time on your hands. And yes, they are all real. No plastic eggs there, so please, walk carefully around the yard.
NGUYEN: Don't step them on, and pick them up before they start stinking. So we're going to move onto these eggs. It wouldn't be Easter without Easter eggs and some cultures have elevated egg decorating to a high art.
HOLMES: People in the Eastern part of Germany decorate these eggs and they're especially popular. The intricate designs are meant to bestow protection and health to the recipient.
NGUYEN: Really? The colorful hollow shells are traditionally given to children on Easter for good luck.
HOLMES: And what else is also given to children sometimes? Baby chicks given as Easter gifts, even though people say that's really not the best idea. So the Japanese have come up with a high- tech solution.
NGUYEN: Well, of course, they do, it is a realistic looking robotic chick. Can you see which one there is the real one? The one in the middle.
HOLMES: Really?
NGUYEN: There's a real one there. You see it?
HOLMES: Are you serious?
NGUYEN: I promise you. No, none of those are real. But anyway, these fluffy chicks, they don't really move around, but they do chirp and flap their wings.
HOLMES: And of course you know the upside to these mechanical chicks, they don't need to be fed and don't leave little messes.
NGUYEN: That's the best part.
HOLMES: And coming up next, we've got "RELIABLE SOURCES." Money, politics and the presidential race with the election still quite a ways off, are the media focusing too much on first quarter fund-raising numbers?
NGUYEN: And then at 11:00 on "LATE EDITION," former Wisconsin governor and Republican presidential hopeful Tommy Thompson sits down with Wolf Blitzer to talk about the '08 race.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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