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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Kevin Slaten

Aired February 08, 2003 - 09:17   ET

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

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


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, the heightened terror alert we've been telling you about this morning has put many Americans on edge. Tom Ridge, the secretary of homeland security, says intelligence indicates an attack on the U.S. is imminent. But he's urging people not to panic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RIDGE, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We ask you to remain aware and remain alert. We are not recommending that events be canceled or travel or other plans be changed. We do recommend that individuals and families in the days ahead take some time to prepare for an emergency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Radio talk show host Kevin Slaten joins us now from St. Louis, Missouri, with a look at how the Midwest is reacting to the terror warnings.

Good morning to you, Kevin. Thank you for being here.

KEVIN SLATEN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good morning, Heidi. My pleasure.

COLLINS: Want to know, what are people telling you? What are your callers saying about this? Are they concerned?

SLATEN: Well, I don't think they are. I think for the most part, from what I can tell in talking to people both on the show and around St. Louis, I think most people are confused rather than concerned. No one really understands the color codings of the terror alerts. Nobody knows orange from red or yellow or blue.

And I think when you hear Tom Ridge say that we're supposed to be prepared, I say, and most of the people I've talked to say, Well, what does that mean? What are we supposed to do? Well, they want us to be alert. what does that mean? Are we supposed to keep an eye out for suspicious characters?

And I think there's a lot of confusion more than there is concern.

COLLINS: So you don't feel -- you don't get a sense at all from the people of St. Louis as being scared? Or are they scared, they just aren't sure what to do? SLATEN: Yes, I don't really get that sense of being scared. I mean, life is going on as it is normally here in St. Louis. I was around town last night a little bit. I don't hear talk of it. There's not a -- it's not a big conversation piece that, my gosh, there's an orange terror alert out. That means there's an attack that's imminent. I didn't hear those words last night, and I didn't hear those words all week leading up to it.

So I don't think there's a heightened sense of concern. I think we've heard these alerts before, and I hate to say it, but we seem to be content that, OK, we'll be warned in enough time if something happens.

COLLINS: But Kevin, we haven't raised the terror alert since last September, of course, the anniversary of 9/11. People aren't talking about that at all?

SLATEN: They really don't feel concerned about it. I don't get that sense. I know that when Tom Ridge says an attack on the United States is imminent, when I hear those words, that's a lot more to me than, we have a heightened terror alert. Imminent means, you know, it could happen as we're sitting here.

And I think that when people hear that, that might cause some concern. But again, I think the confusion overrides the concern. Because what does that mean? Does it mean we should stay in our house? He just said no, we should go about business. We shouldn't cancel plans. But we should stay alert. I'm not quite sure what that means.

COLLINS: Do you think it has anything to do with being in the Midwest? You know, we hear a lot about the coasts, we hear a lot about New York, and we hear about L.A., the larger cities. Do you think that has anything to do with it for where you are geographically?

SLATEN: Heidi, I think that's an excellent point. I think most people in the Midwest sort of feel that we're isolated, we're safe. And that if anything happens, it will happen in New York, it'll happen in Los Angeles, or, as we heard around the millennium, up in the Seattle area.

We've heard those areas. Nobody's ever mentioned the Midwest, though they did put big brick concrete slabs in front of the access to the Gateway Arch the other day, in case there was a bomb or in a truck that might drive by the arch. So they're at least taking some precautions. In that respect -- though not that many people are going through the arch this time of year.

COLLINS: So if you had your druthers, for lack of a better word, what would you like to hear from Tom Ridge, you and the people of St. Louis, as far as clearing all of this up?

SLATEN: Well, when we saw Colin Powell address the U.N. Security Council the other day, he gave tremendous evidence in terms of pictures, in terms of intercepts, recordings that they have picked up, eavesdropping through satellites. If we could hear something of that nature, if we could hear some kind of a detailed plan that causes Tom Ridge to put us on this heightened alert, then I think we would be more concerned.

But I think that we're sort of feeling safe, maybe to our detriment, that we have that feeling, but because of the heightened security, I, at least, have confidence that the people that are there are going to make sure that they are taking care of it.

COLLINS: All right. Radio talk show host Kevin Slaten, joining us from St. Louis, Missouri, this morning. We do thank you.

SLATEN: Thank you, Heidi.

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







Aired February 8, 2003 - 09:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, the heightened terror alert we've been telling you about this morning has put many Americans on edge. Tom Ridge, the secretary of homeland security, says intelligence indicates an attack on the U.S. is imminent. But he's urging people not to panic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM RIDGE, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We ask you to remain aware and remain alert. We are not recommending that events be canceled or travel or other plans be changed. We do recommend that individuals and families in the days ahead take some time to prepare for an emergency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Radio talk show host Kevin Slaten joins us now from St. Louis, Missouri, with a look at how the Midwest is reacting to the terror warnings.

Good morning to you, Kevin. Thank you for being here.

KEVIN SLATEN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Good morning, Heidi. My pleasure.

COLLINS: Want to know, what are people telling you? What are your callers saying about this? Are they concerned?

SLATEN: Well, I don't think they are. I think for the most part, from what I can tell in talking to people both on the show and around St. Louis, I think most people are confused rather than concerned. No one really understands the color codings of the terror alerts. Nobody knows orange from red or yellow or blue.

And I think when you hear Tom Ridge say that we're supposed to be prepared, I say, and most of the people I've talked to say, Well, what does that mean? What are we supposed to do? Well, they want us to be alert. what does that mean? Are we supposed to keep an eye out for suspicious characters?

And I think there's a lot of confusion more than there is concern.

COLLINS: So you don't feel -- you don't get a sense at all from the people of St. Louis as being scared? Or are they scared, they just aren't sure what to do? SLATEN: Yes, I don't really get that sense of being scared. I mean, life is going on as it is normally here in St. Louis. I was around town last night a little bit. I don't hear talk of it. There's not a -- it's not a big conversation piece that, my gosh, there's an orange terror alert out. That means there's an attack that's imminent. I didn't hear those words last night, and I didn't hear those words all week leading up to it.

So I don't think there's a heightened sense of concern. I think we've heard these alerts before, and I hate to say it, but we seem to be content that, OK, we'll be warned in enough time if something happens.

COLLINS: But Kevin, we haven't raised the terror alert since last September, of course, the anniversary of 9/11. People aren't talking about that at all?

SLATEN: They really don't feel concerned about it. I don't get that sense. I know that when Tom Ridge says an attack on the United States is imminent, when I hear those words, that's a lot more to me than, we have a heightened terror alert. Imminent means, you know, it could happen as we're sitting here.

And I think that when people hear that, that might cause some concern. But again, I think the confusion overrides the concern. Because what does that mean? Does it mean we should stay in our house? He just said no, we should go about business. We shouldn't cancel plans. But we should stay alert. I'm not quite sure what that means.

COLLINS: Do you think it has anything to do with being in the Midwest? You know, we hear a lot about the coasts, we hear a lot about New York, and we hear about L.A., the larger cities. Do you think that has anything to do with it for where you are geographically?

SLATEN: Heidi, I think that's an excellent point. I think most people in the Midwest sort of feel that we're isolated, we're safe. And that if anything happens, it will happen in New York, it'll happen in Los Angeles, or, as we heard around the millennium, up in the Seattle area.

We've heard those areas. Nobody's ever mentioned the Midwest, though they did put big brick concrete slabs in front of the access to the Gateway Arch the other day, in case there was a bomb or in a truck that might drive by the arch. So they're at least taking some precautions. In that respect -- though not that many people are going through the arch this time of year.

COLLINS: So if you had your druthers, for lack of a better word, what would you like to hear from Tom Ridge, you and the people of St. Louis, as far as clearing all of this up?

SLATEN: Well, when we saw Colin Powell address the U.N. Security Council the other day, he gave tremendous evidence in terms of pictures, in terms of intercepts, recordings that they have picked up, eavesdropping through satellites. If we could hear something of that nature, if we could hear some kind of a detailed plan that causes Tom Ridge to put us on this heightened alert, then I think we would be more concerned.

But I think that we're sort of feeling safe, maybe to our detriment, that we have that feeling, but because of the heightened security, I, at least, have confidence that the people that are there are going to make sure that they are taking care of it.

COLLINS: All right. Radio talk show host Kevin Slaten, joining us from St. Louis, Missouri, this morning. We do thank you.

SLATEN: Thank you, Heidi.

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