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CNN Sunday Morning
Remembering Fallen Soldiers
Aired May 27, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unless you have lost a child, in our case, it's hard to understand the pain.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: New graves, new tears. This Memorial Day Weekend, we remember our fallen soldiers as we take you to section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. Good morning to you all from the CNN world headquarters here in Atlanta, Georgia, it is Sunday, May 27th, I'm T.J. Holmes.
MELISSA LONG, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Melissa Long in this morning for Betty. So glad you're spending part of your long weekend with us this morning. Coming up on our program this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We decorate this park every Memorial Day, but we never had anything like this happen.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Outrage in Boston this morning. A dozen American flags have been stolen and burned. Police are hunting for the vandals.
HOLMES: Also, another Hollywood it girl in trouble again. Actress Lindsay Lohan arrested and you have to hear what police say they found in her car. We have that scoop ahead on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
LONG: Memorial Day weekend for a nation at war. Beyond the barbecues for many tomorrow will be a day for somber reflection. Across the country Americans are already pausing to honor fallen U.S. troops at parades and ceremonies. Sadly the number of war dead continues to grow over the weekend. The military says five more U.S. troops were killed in Iraq yesterday. That increases the death toll since the war began to 3,452. More than 100 troops have died in Iraq this month alone and while Americans honor the fallen, the search continues for the missing two U.S. soldiers who have been missing in Iraq since a May 12th ambush. The U.S. military says it is holding 16 people directly related to the attack.
HOLMES: Another arrest today in Iraq that the U.S. says is tied to Iran. The military says coalition and Iraqi forces arrested a suspected terrorist with links to Iran's weapons and training network. The arrest in the Sadr City section of Baghdad was the third in as many days. All this comes ahead of talks set to begin tomorrow between U.S. and Iran about Iraq. And CNN's Brian Todd reports on another incident that's adding to the tensions.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A calculated deadly infiltration. Gunmen disguised as Americans penetrate a U.S. compound in Karbala, Iraq, kidnap and kill five Americans. Now U.S. military officials give stunning new detail on who was behind the January attack and the planning.
MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM CALDWELL, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ: We know that they had built a mock facility in Iran and in fact had helped conduct the training and planning over there before they came back and executed that here in Iraq.
TODD: Part of a broader, chilling pattern, U.S. military officials tell us of secret lethal cells within Muqtada al Sadr's Mehdi Army being trained and funded inside Iran. Their handlers, the Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran's intelligence service which reports over the head of the president directly to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
CALDWELL: These secret cells have been receiving a considerable amount of money, I mean literally in the hundreds of thousands of dollars on a regular basis, to fund their efforts both to work the kidnappings, the assassinations and some mass murders that have gone on here in Iraq.
TODD: U.S. military officials say they don't know whether Ayatollah Khamenei personally authorized the training or not, and although General David Petraeus called these cells Sadr special ops, U.S. officials cannot say if Sadr was involved. An Iranian official at the United Nations tells CNN, "U.S. officials are scapegoating us, trying to blame others when they fail to stabilize Iraq." The charges come just ahead of unprecedented U.S.-Iranian talks scheduled to begin Monday in Baghdad.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: These are going to be tough talks. This is going to be more of an argument than a negotiation. And the two sides are going to lay it on the line a bit and perhaps see if they can ultimately work toward some common ground.
TODD (on camera): Ratcheting up the pressure even more at those talks, the trump cards that both sides now appear to have. Iran is still detaining five Iranian Americans. And General Caldwell tells us the U.S. military has seven Iranian intelligence agents in its custody. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: An American citizen accused of supporting al Qaeda is back in the U.S. now to face charges. Sayed Hashmi is the first terrorist suspect extradited to the U.S. by British authorities. Hashmi is accused of conspiring to provide military gear to al Qaeda terrorists fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in federal court in New York. Hashmi arrived in the U.S. late Friday from the U.K.
HOLMES: Memorial Day, of course a time to honor those who died for the American flag and what it represents. So, imagine the outrage when someone snatched a dozen flags from a Memorial Day exhibit and then torched them. We'll get the details now from report Todd Kazakiewich, he's with our Boston affiliate, WCVB.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We take pride in this park and even more so at this time of the year.
TODD KAZAKIEWICH, WCVB (voice-over): Veterans say that's why this act of flag desecration is especially offensive.
BOB WHITE, VETERAN: We decorate this park every Memorial Day, but I mean we never had anything like this happen.
KAZAKIEWICH: It happened Thursday afternoon in Natick Center. An off-duty police officer was driving by Moran Memorial Park when he saw a trash receptacle on fire. As it got closer, he noticed it wasn't trash burning, it was a dozen American flags stolen from this war memorial.
JOHN MACGILLIVRAY, VETERAN: We're very upset that people would take these. They're dishonoring the veterans. They have no right to these flags. I'm aware people have the right to protest, but they don't have a right to take property that doesn't belong to them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It has to be purposefully set. It's probably not that uncommon to have trash on fire. It's a little more uncommon to find flags.
KAZAKIEWICH: As police search for who did it, veterans want to know why? They say this is at the very least unpatriotic if not completely cowardly.
MACGILLIVRAY: If it's a political protest, I wish that they would have done it publicly. Don't burn flags and run away.
KAZAKIEWICH (on camera): This park will host its annual Memorial Day service on Monday. As of right now, police have no suspects in this case, they're asking for your help. Reporting in Natick, I'm Todd Kazakiewich for News Center Five's eye-opener.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: Warrior One and the Fisher House Foundation have been teaming up to help wounded troops. And proceeds from the auction of the CNN hummer went to the foundation. Well now Warrior One is touring the country to raise even more money. Where do we find it this morning? Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and that's also where we find CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider traveling the country along with the hummer. Good morning Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning Melissa. That's right, this is the Chagrin Valley JC blossom time festival, a huge festival here just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. There's so much going on and it's been a busy weekend. One of the main attractions is right behind me, the CNN hummer known as Warrior One that really faced some heavy artillery back in April of 2003, and then it was completely redone, overhauled by TLC's "Overhauling" show. That was done last summer. And now the results are what you see here. Illustrations depicting the crew's experiences when they were in Iraq and also refurbished from the inside out with a new engine, new DVD player, everything is new inside. It looks great, and more importantly, it's raising money for troops that were severely wounded. In fact, the veterans that this money is going to it's actually helping through a scholarship program called the sentinels of freedom. And that raises money for a program of four years to help them rehabilitate back into their daily lives.
(WEATHER REPORT)
LONG: It really is the place to be. Yesterday we heard a lot of music, sounded like some races in the background. Are those expected to get underway shortly there?
SCHNEIDER: Yes and there's actually going to be a big parade today and another one tomorrow. But I think that last night, people were here very late, so they're sleeping in this morning.
LONG: Ah, got it. All right, some shut eye on this Sunday morning. Thanks Bonnie, we'll talk to you a little bit later. And a reminder that you can also do your part this weekend. Use frequent flier miles and donate them. You can help the Fisher House. Your donated miles will be used to transport servicemen and women wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan and their families to treatment centers around the country. Simple to do this, just go online, fisherhouse.org and the participating airlines will match your contribution during the holiday weekend.
HOLMES: Central Texas hit hard. More severe weather expected there today. The biggest fear is more flooding. Six deaths blamed on this flooding so far, most of those from cars being swept right off the road. Parts of central Texas also hit by tornadoes. People cleaning up this morning in Killeen. About six people suffered minor injuries. About 100 structures were damaged.
Meanwhile, the man who we came to know in the aftermath of that Greensburg, Kansas tornado, calling it quits. Greensburg Mayor Lonny McCullum says he is not the right guy to handle the massive rebuilding project. Instead, says he wants to spend time with his family. But the city council has not yet accepted his resignation. Almost every home and building in Greensburg was damaged by that tornado that hit earlier this month.
LONG: Going to show you the Atlanta skyline. A live picture right there. Can't really see it and that's because of smoke from the wildfires in northern Florida and south Georgia have left this haze over our city this morning. You may be wondering well where are fires from and why did they start? It's believed that a lightning strike in the Okeefenokee swamp way back on May 5th may have started the second fire which spread into Florida. Now the fire I'm told is about 90 percent contained we've learned this morning. The Georgia fire, however, only about 60 percent contained. And to give you an idea of distance, if you're not familiar with the geography of the state of Georgia, Atlanta is really in the northwest corner and if you were to drive down to the area where you have the fires, that's about a four- hour drive, more than 250 miles. So this wind, because of the wind -- because of the wind that Bonnie Schneider has been talking about is really fanning the smoke up to our area as well and it's really difficult to see this morning and very difficult to breathe if you happen to be compromised.
HOLMES: It is not pleasant here in Atlanta right now.
LONG: You can even smell it inside the CNN building here.
HOLMES: Yes, so we're dealing with it now. So if we get a little woozy, that's what it is.
LONG: That's the excuse?
HOLMES: Yeah. No, well coming up here, ah, Lindsay Lohan, she has landed on the wrong side of the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers tracked Ms. Lohan to the local hospital where she was ultimately placed under arrest.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Lindsay Lohan under arrest. Coming up in about three minutes, what police say the underage actress has done now.
LONG: And do you think a witness in court should be allowed to swear on the Koran instead of the bible? Find out what happened to one Muslim woman who demanded that right in North Carolina.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: 9:15 in the morning eastern time on this Sunday. There's more trouble to tell you about for Lindsay Lohan. The actress arrested over the weekend on suspicion she was driving under the influence. I should point out she's 20 years old. Beverly Hills police say it happened early Saturday morning. According to police, Lohan was slightly injured whether her Mercedes struck a curb on Sunset Boulevard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. MITCH MCCANN, BEVERLY HILLS POLICE: Officers tracked Ms. Lohan to the local hospital where she was ultimately placed under arrest for 23152ABC, driving under the influence. There was some additional contraband found in the vehicle and right now it's been booked into evidence. Preliminary investigations are its illegal narcotics.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: In addition to the contraband in the vehicle, two other people were there with her. The crash is her third in about two years.
HOLMES: New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine recovering well from the car accident that nearly killed him. Using crutches to get around, Corzine made his first public speaking appearance since that accident in April. He spoke at a Memorial Day event Saturday at the State Veteran's Cemetery in Trenton.
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GOV. JON CORZINE, (D) NEW JERSEY: It's great to be out of the house and be with all of you.
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HOLMES: Corzine suffered a broken leg and 11 broken ribs in that accident. He's been working from the governor's mansion since leaving the hospital.
LONG: Getting a read now on Senator Clinton of New York. It may be easier than you thought. CNN's Carol Costello takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Whoa!
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton whether she wins the Democratic nomination or not as a political star, love her or hat her, Clinton is the stuff best sellers are made of. There are count them three new books about Senator Clinton vying to make a splash. One, "Her Way" the hopes and ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton by "New York Times" reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta. Two, "The Extreme Makeover of Hillary Rodham Clinton" by Bay Buchanan. And three, "A Woman in Charge, The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton" written by famed Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein. He calls Clinton one of the most interesting figures in recent American history. And says he answers the question, what is her character? Peter Baker is one of the few reporters to get his hands on Bernstein's book. In "The Washington Post," he and a colleague write the account is not unsympathetic, but includes some damning observations.
PETER BAKER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well there are a lot of things in the book that jump out at you.
COSTELLO: Like Bernstein's assertion Bill Clinton wanted to divorce Hillary Clinton in 1989 because he was in love with another woman.
BAKER: When Bill Clinton is thinking about divorce back in this period prior to his presidency, he's consulting with other governors about what divorce meant to their careers politically. COSTELLO: The Clinton camp wouldn't comment on specific allegations in the book, but calls Bernstein's book and others, nothing more than cash for rehash. Ultimately, there was no divorce. But according to Bernstein's book, there were continuing problems for the Clintons. A source close to the book says both Clintons went to great lengths to keep the lid on his infidelities. Even hiring lawyers to make sure women stayed quiet about the affairs, hoping Bill Clinton's run for president would change things.
BAKER: Running for office, running for the White House would be a good thing because in the White House, surrounded by all of the press corps and secret service and so forth, you know, and the majesty of the office, that these would discourage her husband from the kind of philandering that he had done in Arkansas.
COSTELLO: As we all know, it didn't. Bernstein's book also quotes former associates, like Mark Fabiani, a former Clinton White House counsel. He defended the Clintons in the Whitewater scandal. Fabiani is quoted as saying, "When I say there was a serious fear she would be indicted, I can't overstate that." He also said Clinton was so tortured by the way she'd been treated, that she would do anything to get out of the situation. In the meantime, the Clinton camp says, another book about the Clinton's personal life, adding is it possible to be quoted yawning?
(on camera): We did talk to a source close to Bernstein's book who confirmed all of the information in "The Washington Post." The book itself will be sent to all journalists on Tuesday and it will hit the bookstores in June. Carol Costello, CNN, New York.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: On store shelves on Tuesday, but if you like to learn more today about the Clinton revelations, Howard Kurtz goes in-depth on the subject coming up on "RELIABLE SOURCES" in about, well exactly 42 minutes from now.
HOLMES: They were fired for gossiping at work, yes. But for New Hampshire women appealed for their jobs back.
LONG: Find out what's happening to them now. But first --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you were going to court and you're Christian, and the judge says put your hand on the Koran so you can take an oath, what would you do? (END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: A Muslim woman is fighting for her religious rights in the courtroom. Her story, in three minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, a couple of live pictures to show you here. A couple of things we're following. First, a note of concern for you racing fans. That's Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis where we're expecting the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500. Well, you could see things do not look so well on the weather front. Sixty percent chance of rain there and also some storms moving in that could be severe according to the forecast. Right now the race is still scheduled to go off at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. So we will keep an eye on that. The other live picture we were showing you there on the right of your screen that is at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. This is the 20th annual running of rolling thunder, their ride for freedom. A lot of vets are riding their motorcycles today, riding it from the Pentagon to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, sending their message of supporting the troops. So two things we're certainly keeping an eye on this morning.
Consider it a legal battle of biblical proportions. At issue, taking the oath in court. One hand on the bible, one hand raised to God. But what if your faith resides in the Koran, the Muslim holy book? The answer and the issue stir debate and passions. CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Syidah Mateen always believed it was her right as an American and a Muslim to swear on a Koran in court.
SYIDAH MATEEN, MUSLIM AMERICAN: If you were going to court and you're Christian, and the judge says put your hand on the Koran so you can take an oath, what would you do?
ARENA: Appearing as a witness in a domestic violence dispute, she faced that very situation, but in reverse. Asked to take an oath on a bible, she requested a Koran.
MATEEN: I actually thought they had them, so it was just an innocent question.
ARENA: But the court didn't have any. So she went to her mosque and raised money to donate some. The donation was rejected.
JOSEPH E. TURNER, N.C. CHIEF DISTRICT CT. JUDGE: It has been the practice to use the bible throughout the history of this state.
ARENA: And today the Korans sit unused on a shelf. Mateen says she was a victim of religious discrimination and sued.
SETH R. COHEN, GREENSBORO N.C. ATTORNEY: This country was founded on freedom of religion and that's freedom of all religions.
ARENA: North Carolina State law said that one way a person can be sworn is to quote, "Lay his hand upon the holy scriptures." Two senior judges in Gilford County decided that holy scriptures meant the bible. But a superior court judge ruled for Mateen, deciding that from now on, residents should be able to use other holy books. Civil liberties advocates were looking for just this kind of decision.
JENNIFER RUDINGER, EXEC. DIRECTOR, ACLU NORTH CAROLINA: The government can neither favor any particular set of religious values nor can the government discriminate against other religions or people of different faiths.
ARENA: Mateen who unintentionally landed in a controversy over one Koran, now finds herself caught up in a much bigger one over religion in America.
STEVE NOBLE, CHAIRMAN, CALLED2ACTION: This is just part of a larger war on Christianity as a whole, whether it be in the schools, in the courthouses, in the media, in the shopping centers.
ARENA: Mateen and her lawyers argue that's never been their intent, but they were simply looking for justice. Kelli Arena, CNN, Greensboro, North Carolina.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: This morning, honoring America's youngest military heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Unless you have lost a child, in our case, it's hard to understand the pain.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: CNN gives you an emotional look at a special section of Arlington National Cemetery. Veronica?
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ: And we continue to honor our nation's heroes online. We'll have your i-Reports next, from the dot-com desk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Success is really absolutely a state of mind. It's not just a money thing. It doesn't have to be money at all, it's a state of mind.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump is one of the wealthiest real estate moguls in America.
TRUMP: I think my greatest asset is I don't give up. I never stop. You can't stop. If you ever give up or quit, you're never going to be successful.
COSTELLO: Trump learned the tools of the trade while working with his father. He started his own real estate business and built an extensive empire that includes high-end hotels, casinos, golf courses and his own reality TV show.
TRUMP: My greatest advice to entrepreneurs is come in prepared. Come in as educated as you can be. Love your subject, know your subject, understand your subject and don't ever quit.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Good morning on this Sunday, I'm Melissa Long in for Betty Nguyen on this Sunday.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. We want to start here at 9:30 here on the east coast, with a breaking story we are getting from our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre who's on the line with us now. Jamie, this is an update on the search for two missing American soldiers, however, they haven't been found, but soldiers came upon something else. Fill us in.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well this is actually an operation that's separate from the search for the missing soldiers. It's taking place in Diyala Province, which is northeast of Baghdad and in that area, acting on a tip from a local Iraqi, U.S. forces have come across what they say is a hideout used by al Qaeda in Iraq to hold kidnapped victims, and in fact, they say they found a torture room there. In the process, they have freed 41 Iraqi citizens, who they say were held in this hideout, some of them as many as four months and some of them showing signs of torture, including some broken bones.
Again, the significance of this, says the U.S. military, is that the information came from local Iraqis there, who they say are increasingly becoming disenchanted with the operation of al Qaeda in Diyala Province. That's a province, you may recall, where violence has spiked after the crackdown in Baghdad as some elements have moved out of Baghdad into Diyala, and the U.S. military is hoping what's happened in Anbar Province, to the west, will also happen in Diyala, which is that the tide will turn, and the local sentiment and they are site citing this as an example of that.
Meanwhile the search goes on for those missing American soldiers south of Baghdad with the same intensity. The U.S. military has not slacked off on that and yet to get the key tip in this case that they hope will break that open. But again, they are citing this operation in Diyala Province, which is just unfolding now, as an example of how perhaps some of the tide is turning. And, again, Diyala Province is where the local commander, General Mixon, recently asked for additional U.S. troops to continue to put pressure on al Qaeda and insurgents in that province to try to get a handle of the violence there -- T.J.
HOLMES: Our Jamie McIntyre, senior Pentagon correspondent. We appreciate that update. And still again, want to be clear, 41 citizens found, certainly not related to the search of the missing American soldiers, but again, U.S. military has come upon and freed now 41 Iraqi citizens that appear to have been held and possibly tortured. Sure we'll get more details on that and as we get them we'll get them to you.
LONG: Memorial Day, of course, is a time to honor our American heroes and nowhere is their sacrifice more evident than Arlington National Cemetery and at section 60, the special place set aside for the men and women that have fought and died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's CNN's Barbara Starr. (BEGIN VIDEO)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT, ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY (voice- over): Arlington National Cemetery. This is section 60, where the orderly solitude gives way to pictures, mementos, teddy bears and toys -- memories across the nearly 400 graves of troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, a constant stream of people stopping to pay their respects.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important, precious gift they could possibly give, and that is the life of their child.
STARR: Ray and Lisa Philipon have found community here at the grave of their 22-year-old son, Lawrence, killed on Mother's Day two years ago in Iraq.
LEESA PHILIPON, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: It's an unbearable pain. Unless you've lost a child, in our case, it's hard to understand the pain. And so, we come here.
STARR (on camera): Here at section 60, there is utter heartbreak and grief. But there also is great love from the buddies who stop by here to visit their friends who didn't make it home alive from the war, to the families, especially the moms and dads who come here to visit their children, many of whom died so very young.
STARR (voice-over): More than 250 teenaged U.S. troops, 18 and 19 years old, have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Terri and Richard Clifton's son, Chad, was killed by a mortar in Iraq.
TERRI CLIFTON, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: Chad was 19. The last day I saw him was the day after his 19th birthday.
STARR: Richard remembers a teenager who listened to music from another war while he was on patrol.
RICHARD CLIFTON, SON KILLED IN IRAQ: This war didn't have its own soundtrack, and that they kind of had to go back and adopt the soundtrack for Vietnam. And they listened to a lot of that retro music.
STARR: But this teenage Marine, like his buddies, wanted to serve. But he had an old man's sense of destiny.
Terri has compiled a book of Chad's e-mails and instant messages. His last letter home.
TERRI CLIFTON: "If you're reading this letter, it means I wasn't lucky this time. Everyone chooses their path, and mine has led me here. I just want you to know there's nothing I can write to express how sorry I am to have put this on you. I know you love me, and this will hurt you."
STARR: At section 60, the children walk, the parents grieve and buddies remember. And one more time, from another war, another generation pauses to say thank you.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Arlington National Cemetery.
(END VIDEO)
LONG: And that is section 60 at Arlington. Now, many of you have honored your fallen heroes over this Memorial weekend by send managing in pictures and stories to Veronica de la Cruz at the dot com desk.
I've been going through them. You found so many touching tributes.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN.COM DESK: Yeah, and Melissa, I know that you can relate to this one. When we report on combat casualties, you only see numbers, right? and it's not until you see the names and the faces that it really starts to hit home.
Here are a view of the I-Reports that we have received this Memorial Day. This is Army Specialist Richard Hardy home for with his family in Ohio for his birthday. You can really tell how proud they are of him in his dress uniform. And this was the last time they ever saw him. Hardy was killed in Ramadi in October 2005, when a rocket propelled grenade hit his tank. Specialist Hardy was on his second tour.
And Melissa, we were just commenting, it really striking to see how young some of these guys are, Specialist Dustin Fisher was only 22. His mother says that even at that young of an age, he was one of the older soldiers in his platoon and tried to take care of the other boys. Dustin left behind a young widow.
Families will tell you that time doesn't erase the memories or do much to ease the pain or diminish the pride. The family of Marine Private 1st Class John Krzmarcik still honors him every Memorial Day (INAUDIBLE). He was killed in Vietnam in 1969.
And there are those who made it home. The family of John Hagerity, seen here with his grandkids three years ago at the World War II Memorial in Washington, honors his service in that war. Hagerity was a decorated flyer in the Army Air Corps who flew more than 150 combat missions in the Pacific.
There is still time to submit your Memorial Day tribute to CNN. All you have to do is send it to us at cnn.com or cnn.com/ireport is the place that you can log on to. Also, please don't forget to donate Hero Miles this weekend. All those miles will go to the families and friends of wounded veterans so they can fly to be together during their treatment. It is so important and it is such an easy thing to do, you just hop on line and you click. I mean it takes a second.
LONG: And as you know, there's also a special tribute online cnn.com/cominghome. Our colleagues at cnn.com have worked tirelessly to put together that tribute as well.
Veronica, thank you. CRUZ: Of course.
HOLMES: Well, Warrior One and Fisher House Foundation teaming up to help wounded troops. Proceeds from the auction of the CNN Hummer went to the foundation and now Warrior One touring the country to raise more money. Right now, it made a stop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and that's where Bonnie Schneider also making a stop this Memorial Day weekend. Hello to you again, Bonnie.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello T.J. And the reason the Hummer is here, it has a lot to do with the RE/MAX tour for the troops and joining me now is a Chagrin Falls councilman, also, Dwight Milko, who works for RE/MAX.
And I understand that you know the chairman and founder, Dave Liniger, who actually won this in an auction or bid on it for a million dollars. Tell me about why he did that to raise money for the Fisher House?
DWIGHT MILKO, RE/MAX OWNER: Yes, well Dave Liniger is the chairman and cofounder of RE/MAX, he's also a Vietnam War veteran himself. He's always looking for ways to support the vets, support the troops. When CNN had the publicity surrounding the CNN Warrior One on the Overhauling show, he decided to get involved and bid and fortunately he was the highest bidder to be able to get the Hummer. It has a new mission. The new mission is go throughout the United States to raise money in support of our troops.
SCHNEIDER: Chagrin Falls is a beautiful picturesque, kind of, small-town America. Why here? Why is the Hummer here?
MILKO: Dave made the decision -- It's been in two cities so far and it will tour the United States -- but he wanted it in local, small town America for this Memorial Day weekend. And we're proud to have it here.
SCHNEIDER: And I know the Blossom Time Festival is very popular here in the Cleveland area, 50,000 people are expected throughout the weekend. What has been your experience? You know the people here when they heard the Hummer was coming, and the reaction to see it here.
MILKO: Right, well one of the other program as long with the Hummer is a new program launched by RE/MAX called Sentinels of Freedom, that's a local homegrown effort of local business people, community leaders, builders to get together to raise funds to help support veterans when they come back with whatever needs they may have.
SCHNEIDER: That's a great program and people have been making donations throughout the festival here at the Hummer site and we really appreciate your time. Thank you so much, Mr. Milko.
MILKO: Thank you.
SCHNEIDER: Let's go back to T.J. and Melissa. HOLMES: All right Bonnie, thanks so much.
LONG: Thank you very much, Bonnie.
We are talking about the workplace today and office gossip. Have you ever been tempted?
HOLMES: Of course not.
LONG: No. You? Absolutely not.
HOLMES: I don't get involved in all this mess back here.
LONG: But, be careful, because you can actually be fired for gossiping with your co-workers. It happened to these women and in three minutes, our legal expert is going to talk about your rights in the workplace.
HOLMES: And also, a 91-year-old man viciously attacked by a carjacker. Now the victim faces off against the suspects and in court. Stay around.
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LONG: Have you ever gossiped at work? Well, did you know you could be fired for gossip? Because it has actually happened. Four women working for the town of Hooksett, New Hampshire were fired last month. The women are accused of gossiping about a town administrator. Court documents say the women discussed a rumor the administrator was having an affair with another female employee and just this Friday of the fired ladies lost a court appeal to get their jobs back. For this one, we bring in our legal ladies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NELDA BLAIR, FMR PROSECUTOR: The town has the right to fire it's employs, particularly if they're disrupting the workplace. And what happened is these ladies were disrupting the workplace. They could have been talking about a federal investigation, they could have been talking about a company takeover, but they were talking about s-e-x, which is why we're talking about it today on television...
LONG: OK, well let me ask you then, let me ask you something. You say that they have the right to be fired if they are disrupting the workplace. But their attorneys -- the employees' attorney are arguing this -- they were never given a warning, there was no verbal warning or written warning? So is it really justified? Is it fair?
LIDA RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Melissa, you're absolutely right no that point. First of all, these are public employees and last time I checked, public employees still had first amendment rights to speak on issues of public concern, including this issue here, not just that somebody is having s-e-x with somebody else, but that the government is giving preferential treatment to one employee over the others. That is something that we should be concerned about. And while Nelda is right, that the cases say that you cannot be disrupting the workplace, the bottom line is you still have a first amendment right if you're a public employee to tattle when the government isn't working properly.
BLAIR: That has nothing to do with the first amendment right. Nothing to do with the rights that these ladies have to say what they want to say. What it has to do with is whether or not they are causing a problem in the workplace and it doesn't matter what they said, whether it was true, whether it was false. What matters is if they were making a problem, if they were causing a problem, disruption, then the town had the right to fire them. Now, if the town had a written procedure and they didn't follow them, shame on them, but they do have the right to fire these people. No question about it. And Lida, I love it when you say I'm right.
LONG: Well, OK. Let's hear if you have the same opinion about one other issue here. Let's talk about the fact that two of the ladies at -- the Hooksett Four, as they are now being called, decided to appeal. The appeal was denied what recourse do they have now?
RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF: They have the recourse; they can go to federal court and file a discrimination action. And here's the bottom line: The state of New Hampshire and the town have specific rules that in this case were not followed that would give these women the same rights that an employee who has a contract would have or that a unionized employee would have. Those rules were not followed in this case, and as a result, these ladies have a very good claim.
LONG: Nelda.
BLAIR: I disagree with that. And when Lida says they can file a lawsuit, remember, just about anyone can file a lawsuit for just about anything. It doesn't mean that they will be successful. And in this case, unless these ladies can actually show that town went out of its way to not follow its own procedure, then they are out of luck.
LONG: Let's focus on the core of this story. This was about gossip in the workplace. You have somebody saying, well, I gossip in the workplace, could my job be in jeopardy? Should people be worried? Should people be tailoring the way they talk about issues at the office?
RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF: Oh, absolutely. People shouldn't be gossiping in the workplace, and yes they can be fired for gossiping in the workplace, because they can be fired for virtually anything. But the bottom line is if the gossiping is disruptive, that the employer, private or public, does have the right to fire for disruptive behavior that basically impedes the functioning of the business.
BLAIR: You know, that's why we're talking about this so much. Everybody is saying: but, I gossip all the time and my coworkers gossip all the time. It's not so much as what you're doing as far as gossiping. It's what are you doing to make the workplace a problem area. If you're, as we keep saying, if you're causing disruption, if you're spending too much time on personal matters, it's the same thing. It just happens to be gossip this situation.
LONG: Nelda Blair, former prosecutor, and Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, thanks so much, civil rights attorney, we appreciate your time on this holiday weekend.
BLAIR: Thank you.
RODRIGUEZ-TASEFF: Thank you.
LONG: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, coming up, a doctor's house call on water. That's next. Why those stranded Sacramento whales need some medical attention.
LONG: And at the top of the hour, investigating Senator Clinton. RELIABLE SOURCES looks at two new books on the New York senator.
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HOLMES: And you'll remember but don't want to see any more of this disturbing surveillance video, a 91-year-old man, also a World War II veteran, savagely beaten by a suspected carjacker. The victim, Leonard Sims, finally got a chance to confront his alleged attacker in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEONARD SIMS, BEATING VICTIM: And he started punching and said he wanted a light for his cigarette and before asked for I could answer, he started punching.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The suspect now faces a potential life sentence if he's convicted on all charges.
LONG: A different kind of spotlight shining on Duke's lacrosse team now, the bright lights of a championship game. Duke scored a last second goal to beat Cornell in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament; they'll John-Hopkins Monday in the title game. And fans ready, really, to move past last year's unpleasantness -- a season suspended after rape charges were leveled against three team members. Those charges, as you know, have been dropped. Ironically, the year before, Duke played in the championship game as well against John- Hopkins, Duke lost.
HOLMES: Scandal at an elite college campus. School officials at Stanford University say they have discovered a second impostor, somebody posing as a student. Latest case involves another woman. She has been kicked off campus where they she reportedly used computers, attended seminars, sometimes even spent the night. Days earlier, Stanford revealed that a California teenager had conned students and lived on campus for about eight months.
LONG: Looks like they really wanted that Ivy League education. HOLMES: Tough to get into Stanford.
LONG: Absolutely. We have an update on the whales, now. actually courtesy of an I-Reporter. This is video. If you look closely, what you'll see there, scientists shooting needles full of antibiotics into the two whales, the mom and her calf. This video, shot by Ed Truthan, near Rio Vista, California. The whales, as you know, were injured by a ship's propeller, and those wounds are getting worse. The whales have been in fresh water, Sacramento River for about two weeks now, and on Tuesday, rescuers will start trying to drive them down river again, using high-powered water houses.
HOLMES: A milestone for an American icon, yep, the Duke, John Wayne. His hometown of Winterset, Iowa, celebrating what would have been his 100th birthday and they're celebrating with a new statue in his honor, and you can't have a John Wayne birthday without a John Wayne Wild West parade, as you see happening, there. They town also broke ground on a new John Wayne museum -- and the museum is being built near his childhood home. So happy 100th to him and his hometown certainly doing it up right.
LONG: Yeah, quite a tribute to him, that's for sure. Well, they record the ultimate sacrifices, American families are being asked to make.
HOLMES: Yeah, coming up next, "Associated Press" photographers tell their emotional tales of covering military funerals.
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HOLMES: Probing Hillary Clinton's private life, RELIABLE SOURCES takes an in-depth look at all those new books on the Democratic presidential candidate. That, coming up next.
LONG: And 11:00 eastern, LATE EDITION's Wolf Blitzer, asks Congressmen Duncan Hunter, Charlie Rangel, do U.S. troops have what they need to win the fight.
HOLMES: Few journalistic assignments tug on emotions like a military funeral.
LONG: Photographers with the "Associated Press" certainly know this first hand, as you're about to see.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A roadside bomb killed...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq in two days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the highest toll for any four-month stretch since the beginning of the Iraq conflict.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watching the families, watching the mothers and the fathers, and the children, you know, it's pretty emotional to watch that. You know, fathers who, you know, were looking forward to their sons coming back and leading a great life with their sons and seeing that wiped out in just a -- in a moment like that. It can jerk on your heartstrings a little.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My feelings are secondary. Sometimes you lose it, but mostly it's later when you look at the pictures, and you get a chance to really -- you know, maybe you were focusing on the mother and then you realize that hiding behind her were a couple of children, and then you start really thinking about the fact that all of their future is going to be spent without their father. Hopefully that's what people that look at the pictures come away with too.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It hits a small-town differently than when somebody's from Chicago or something like that. I was going into communities where everyone in town knew this soldier. You have to keep that in mind wherever you go. When you're checking into the hotel, when you're in a restaurant, because these people are grieving along with the family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most difficult part is to not intrude on the privacy and sanctity of the proceeding, to let the people have closure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could spend the day covering a soldier's funeral and putting up my pictures and seeing his parents cry and seeing his mother lingering over his casket and then go out to dinner with friends and everyone's talking about their day, and your mind goes back to that moment. It does sort of sends a slow, sad drum beat through your core, but it's what we do, and I think we're doing a good thing by being there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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