Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Conviction Overturned in High School Beating Case; O.J. Simpson a Suspect in Robbery Case; Burned Iraqi Victim Finding Hope in L.A.; Missing Girl's Parents Announce Ad Campaign
Aired September 15, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning from the CNN center right here in Atlanta. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is September 15th.
Hi, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR, SATURDAY MORNING: And I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you all could be with us.
First here, we're going to be talking about a racially charged case, a teenage suspect in jail and this morning, a major legal move to tell you but.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our primary concern is to get Mychal Bell out of jail and into school where he needs to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A school yard fight exposes the racial fault line in one southern community and what is next for the Jena six. .
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His people started just going through stuff. All of a sudden, O.J. was yelling this is mine. All that stuff is mine. This whole thing took less than four or five minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: O.J. Simpson admits he just wanted to get his stuff back. But did his recovery efforts include armed robbery?
HOLMES: Also this tiny, tiny car hoping for a big welcome in the United States. We've got a show and tell for you of the smart car.
But up first this hour, a major reversal in an explosive case that has grabbed headlines and has split a town and a school along racial lines. You know this case by now. It's the case of the Jena six, the black teenagers in Louisiana charged with beating a white student last December. Well now, the conviction of one of the young men has been tossed out.
Here now an explainer of how we got to this point.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): The chain of events began under this tree at Jena high school. Like the town itself, the school is mostly white. The unwritten rule was that the tree was a meeting place for white students only. Last year, several black students sat under the tree. The next day, three nooses hung from the branches. To the black community, the message was clear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was very offended because that's a racial slur against us.
HOLMES: But some white residents said it was no big deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think a couple of boys made a mistake. I think it's all being blown out of proportion.
HOLMES: From there, tension between white and black students escalated. Then in December a white student, Dustin Barker was knocked unconscious and kicked as he lay on the ground. Some said Barker provoked the fight but his parents told us Justin didn't do anything. They believe he could have been killed.
KELLI BARKER, MOTHER OF BEATEN STUDENT: Several lacerations in both sides. Both of the ears was kind of really damaged and both eyes, his right eye was the worst. It had blood clots in it.
HOLMES: This is the picture taken by police at the hospital. Dustin was released the same day and attended a school ceremony later that night. A few days later, six black classmates were charged with attempted murder, Carwyn Jones, Bryant Purvis, Robert Bailey Jr., and Theodore Shaw all face the prospect of life in prison. A fifth teenager, whose name hasn't been released, was also charged with attempted murder as a juvenile. Charges against Jones and Shaw were later reduced to aggravated second degree battery and conspiracy to convict battery which could mean more than 20 years in prison.
In June, Mychal Bell, the first to go on trial was found guilty of the same charges. He was supposed to be sentenced on September 20th. It had taken an all-white jury three hours to reach the verdict. Now however, a Louisiana appeals court has ruled that Bell should have been tried as a juvenile and his adult convictions have been thrown out.
BOB NOEL, MYCHAL BELL'S ATTORNEY: We're happy right now, but tomorrow is another day. We are prepared for any contingency that may arise in this case. The first step is to get the conviction reversed. Now we have other hurdles that we have to go through in this particular case.
HOLMES: District attorney Reed Walters now has the option of filing the same charges against Bell in juvenile court. In the meantime, Bell remains locked up in jail where he has been since the attack at the school last December.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Well, CNN crews are now in Jena to get a reaction to the overturned conviction. We will have live reports from the town throughout the day. Also a special report tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
NGUYEN: We also have guest segments throughout the morning dealing with that case.
But in the meantime, I want to tell you about this, an Amber alert this morning, a 12-day old baby is missing, believed kidnapped by a teenager living in the family home in Detroit. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has posted a picture of Israel Bell. There's that picture and the baby girl's mother is still in the hospital due to complications after a C-section.
But police tell our affiliate WDIV that the newborn's aunt fell asleep while baby-sitting and when she woke up, the baby and the 17- year-old girl were gone. The family had taken the teen in just a few weeks ago just knowing her first name. That's all they knew and her name is Jasmine.
HOLMES: We will turn to some weather now. Parts of southeast Texas cleaning up this morning from damage left by hurricane Humberto. The hurricane hit High Island, Texas with winds of 85 miles per hour early on Thursday, destroying several homes, knocked out power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses in Texas and southwest Louisiana. The power company say some customers across the region might not get electricity back until early next week. They don't want to hear that.
Also remnants of Humberto caused damage in central Alabama and delivered heavy rain as far north as the Carolinas.
NGUYEN: So let's find out where Humberto is this morning and what kind of havoc it's causing in other areas.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Officially, Humberto is gone. But it' certainly is bad that we had the tornadoes in Alabama. But at the same time, (INAUDIBLE)
NGUYEN: So no remnants are left? No one's getting any little outer bands of rain.
WOLF: Some extreme scattered showers in parts of southern Georgia, but we have a front that's coming through that's going to give us great conditions. Also very nice conditions across much of the Midwest. We're going to talk about a cool down this morning and we even have another tropical system, another one. This one's Ingrid. We're going to talk about that one too.
But first, let's take a look at Chicago. I was going to say it looks cold, but how can something look cold unless you say snow there or you see icicles? Trust me though, temperatures this morning are mainly into the low 40s. It is a chilly morning. It makes the coffee taste better. That's always a good thing for Chicago and it's going to remain fairly chilly over the next couple of days before warming back up. But I think the days where we see 90s in Chicago are gone for at least this year.
Meanwhile, let's switch gears and go right to the tropics. This is Ingrid, not a very well defined storm at this time. It is tropical storm, but barely so with winds right around 40 miles an hour. Some stronger gusts have been up to 50. But take a look at what we can anticipate with this storm. It is expected by early tomorrow morning to be downgraded to a depression. It should remain fairly weak as we get through midweek even on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds of 35 miles an hour.
As we take even a bigger view of this storm system, it's remained well away from the United States with much of the Caribbean and even Bermuda for that matter. A very weak system, but still, we'll watch it for you.
We're also watching, you can see rain drops along much of the eastern seaboard, very quickly, right along parts of New York, on Long Island. We're seeing the scattered showers upstate through Albany and Watertown. We're seeing the rain in Syracuse this morning back in even into Boston a few rain drops. You're certainly going to need the umbrella as you go out to get the morning paper and temperatures this morning as I mentioned, Chicago, 42 degrees, 33 in Green Bay and 32 in Duluth. That's a look at your forecast, a little more coming up.
Let's send it right back to you at the news desk.
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds. Thank you. We'll talk to you shortly.
HOLMES: Reynolds, Betty, do you know what time it is now?
NGUYEN: Implosion time?
HOLMES: It's implosion time.
NGUYEN: Roll that beautiful footage, shall we?
HOLMES: Betty had a tough morning. Sometimes you need to get going, so we got an implosion for you this morning.
NGUYEN: That will make anybody feel better right? If you think your life is bad, just imagine what that building feels like right about now. This is a complex there in New York, actually, part of the Kodak complex and it is all came crashing down. Obviously, this was done very delicately as explosions put and strategically in different areas so that no one would be injured in it of course. And they do this all the time in many different areas and of course we love to show it anytime we get a chance.
HOLMES: And you know, the same Kodak complex has a lot of buildings that need to be raised and they're going to have to implode over a time period. They got another one coming up next weekend.
NGUYEN: Do they really?
HOLMES: They do. NGUYEN: We have it marked on the calendar.
HOLMES: We do have it marked on the calendar. We actually coordinate these things with people who do implosions.
NGUYEN: Before they announce an implosion, they must call us to make sure that we can get it on the air.
HOLMES: We get it cleared. If you notice, they're always on Saturdays and Sundays. You all have never seen a Monday through Friday implosion.
NGUYEN: This is true, but it's probably because of traffic and all that stuff, but we would like to think that they do it just for our show. But anyway, stay tuned for that. We'll have one next week for you.
In the meantime, though, what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas, right especially if a major celebrity is involved. We'll have the latest on the O.J. Simpson case and all the finger pointing over who took what and why. Also ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It appeared overhead just before 10:00 a.m., a four-engine jet banking slowly in the nation's most off limits air space. The White House grounds and the rooftop nervous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: One of the enduring mysteries of the September 11th attacks. What was that plane doing flying over Washington as the Pentagon was burning?
NGUYEN: And we want you to check this out. We're going to tell you about this dramatic factory fire in Indiana. Look at those flames. That's just a little bit later on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right folks, O.J. Simpson is back in the news this morning. And as we've come to expect, not in a good way. Yes, he is under investigation in an alleged Las Vegas armed robbery.
CNN's Brian Todd has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Again, suspected of possible involvement in a serious crime, again proclaiming his innocence, this time it's robbery at a Las Vegas hotel. The alleged victim, a sports memorabilia collector says former NFL star O.J. Simpson and several other men took some items from him Thursday night in a room at the Palace Station hotel. He described the incident to tmz.com.
ALFRED BEARDSLEY, ALLEGED VICTIM: I was directed at gun point to pack the items up in the condition they were brought in.
TODD: Alfred Beardsley told tmz.com Simpson seemed to be in charge. The Web site quotes Beardsley, saying the group pretended to be customers interested in buying the suit Simpson wore when he was acquitted in 1995 of the murders of his ex-wife and her friend. Simpson told the Associated Press, "Everybody knows this is stolen stuff. Not only wasn't there a break-in, but Riccio came to the lobby and escorted us up to the room. In any event, it's stolen stuff that's mine. Nobody was roughed up."
The man Simpson mentioned, auctioneer Thomas Riccio backs him up, but implied that someone else had a gun.
THOMAS RICCIO, SIMPSON ASSOCIATE: O.J. came in, did not break to try and get his stuff back. He did not have any gun. He didn't have any gun with him and he and his people confiscated the stuff. That's basically what happened. There was no break-in. O.J. was not the one with the gun and he did not steal anything.
TODD: A Las Vegas police official was asked about weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have reported from the victim that there were weapons involved. We have not determined that at this time and we have not recovered any weapons.
TODD: Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The Las Vegas police have talked with Simpson. They say the investigation is in its infancy, as they put it. Simpson also talked to CNN's Ted Rowlands saying he just wanted to get his stuff back. Ted Rowlands also talked to the sports memorabilia dealer who was also in that Las Vegas hotel room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE FROMONG, SPORTS MEMORABILIA DEALER: Up until last night, I considered O.J. Simpson a very good friend, not just a business associate, but a very good friend. If O.J. had come to me man to man and said, Bruce, I want to talk to you and said, look, this stuff, a certain individual we know took this stuff from me and I would have told him, look, I paid that guy for this stuff. Let's work something out. You don't have to pay me. Let's work something out, man to man. But come and busting in on me, putting guns in my face, that was a coward's way out, O.J..
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, the incident coming in the same week the O.J. Simpson book, "If I Did It" went on sale. The Goldman family gaining rights to release the book which is right now number one on amazon.com's best seller list.
Last night on CNN's "Larry King Live," Nicole Simpson Brown's (sic) sister, Denise Brown, talked about the new accusations against O.J. Simpson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENISE BROWN, NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON'S SISTER: If there was a gun involved or something like that, wouldn't it be ironic that he can get away with murdering two people but yet he might be put into jail for burglary because there was a gun involved? I mean, crazier things have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: So we're going to ask experts about what may be next for O.J. Simpson in this case. Attorneys Avery Friedman and Richard Herman join us a little bit later this morning in the 10:00 a.m. Eastern hour for our legal round table.
HOLMES: Paying the price for cheating in the NFL.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's definitely wrong and it's not good for America; it's not good for football.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they got off way too easy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A whole team cheating? That's pretty bad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Is this price too high for Patriots coach Bill Belichick?
NGUYEN: First though, our news quiz for you this morning, how many times have the New England Patriots played in the Super Bowl, do you know? We're going to tell you in just 30 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Just a moment ago, we asked how many times the New England Patriots have played in the Super Bowl. If you said five, congratulations. We are sending you a prize. We are not, actually. They won three, 2003, 2004, 2005 in the Belichick era. They lost in '86 to Chicago. You remember the Super Bowl shuffle, the Bears and all that. And then they lost to Green Bay in 1997. You really didn't remember that?
NGUYEN: Super Bowl ...
HOLMES: Refrigerator Perry.
NGUYEN: I remember Refrigerator.
HOLMES: The Bears beat them.
NGUYEN: OK. HOLMES: OK. They say cheaters never win. Well, the Patriots have won three Super Bowl titles. Now they have another title, maybe the biggest NFL cheaters, now have been punished for videotaping another team's coaching signals.
NGUYEN: Coach Bill Belichick fined $500,000, this from Patriots owner Bob Kraft saying, I'm feeling disappointed that the embarrassing events of this past week may cause some people to see our team in a different light. Kraft also saying he is ready to move forward but are the fans?
Well, CNN's Rick Sanchez has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Patriots coach Bill Belichick says he just wants to put the whole incident behind him.
BILL BELICHICK, PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: Everything that's happens happened is in the past. It's been ruled on, it's over and I'm moving forward.
SANCHEZ: But are fans willing to move on from this latest professional sports scandal? From Atlanta to Chicago to San Francisco, to definitely New York. The answer? A resounding no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cheating is definitely wrong and, you know, it's not good. It's not good for America. It's not good for football.
UNIDENTIFIED FOOTBALL PLAYER: It gives everybody the idea that it's OK to cheat as long as you don't get caught and when you do, you just get a slap on the wrist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You start to wonder as to how much of the victory is this type of intelligence. Everyone knows Belichick is the genius. You just hope that his genius was just left to the football field and not this kind of devious type stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think they got off way too easy. A whole team cheating? That's pretty bad.
SANCHEZ: And not just any team, a team with multiple Super Bowl victories. This sports radio host says the Patriots are the NFL's gold standard and their cheating has tarnished both the team and the league.
CHRISTOPHER RUSSO, WFAN, "MIKE AND THE MAD DOG": There's a fine line there of gamesmanship and out of bounds, over the line, and the Patriots here went over the line. That's why they were punished.
SANCHEZ: And what about the teams the Patriots videotaped? One New York Jets player says he's less worried about the game they lost than the long-term effect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's discouraging for the fans. It's disappointing for the fans.
SANCHEZ: But Russo says scandals and cheating have become such a part of professional sports that most fans can't afford to stay mad for long.
RUSSO: Sports fans right now have been immune to all these issues. I mean Michael Vick, referees in the NBA, steroids, I mean, we're almost getting immune to this. There's so many bad things happening in sports. So no, the NFL fan is not outraged right now.
SANCHEZ: Rick Sanchez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Coming up next hour, we'll talk more about the Patriots' predicament with our sports business analyst Rick Horrow. That comes your way at about 8:15. Don't want to miss that. Meanwhile (INAUDIBLE)
NGUYEN: In the meantime, from the streets of Baghdad to the playgrounds of L.A. Yes, a new life and a new hope emerges for little Yousiff. We'll have an update.
Plus later ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Abby and I'm nine-years old. This is my mom. Her name is Betty and this is my other mom. Her name is Kim.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A video featuring kids with two moms or two dads. The film a New Jersey school district does not want their kids to see.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Right now. we're going to take you from war to wonder. An update on the remarkable story of five-year-old Yousiff, an Iraqi boy grabbed from his Baghdad home, doused with gasoline and then set on fire. Yousiff has arrived in America for potentially life-changing surgeries and
CNN's Arwa Damon reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Yousiff and his family, this was not just a journey from Iraq to America. In the words of his father, it was a journey from death to life. It's like a dream, not reality, his mother Zanib (ph) says glimpsing America for the first time. Pinch me. It's strange. Am I really coming to America?
Greeted at the airport by the Children's Burn Foundation and taken to the apartment they're providing, the family clearly overwhelmed. From the bullets of Baghdad to this? Yousiff and his sister forgot the exhaustion of their 24-hour journey and had the adults in stitches.
The next morning when Keely Quinn, program director for the Children's Burn Foundation arrived at the apartment, it seemed the fun had never ended. And new adventures amid more laughter began. There is so much here that Zanib says she had only seen in the movies, manicured lawns, sparkling pools and of course, the playground. Yousiff scampered up and down the slides, being a boy again, while his parents discussed more serious issues, like programs the foundation has to help burn victims cope.
KEELY QUINN, CHILDREN'S BURN FOUNDATION: The kids that come to our camp, one of the things that they've said is that it helps them feel normal. They didn't know that other kids had burn injuries. They didn't know that other kids had scars or surgeries.
DAMON: Scars this man, Dr. Peter Grossman is going to try to erase. Yousiff is reluctant, perhaps haunted by the pain he suffered in Baghdad's hospitals. But the little man was brave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yousiff, can you open your mouth for me? OK.
Dr. Grossman estimates that Yousiff is going to need at least eight to 10 surgeries over the course of at least six to nine months, warning the family that Yousiff might not ever be 100 percent normal. His mother says, she just wants her son's smile back, a smile that today almost broke through the scars.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And at 11:30 Eastern today, we are going to talk to the man who is hoping to bring that smile back to Yousiff's face, Dr. Peter Grossman from the Grossman Burn Center. You don't want to miss that interview. Again, it's 11:30 Eastern today.
But in the meantime, thousands of people, including so many viewers have responded to Yousiff's story from CNN's impact your world initiative. If you're looking for a way to make a difference for Yousiff, you can. Just log on to cnn.com/impact and click on Iraq burn victim. There you can learn how you can become a part of the solution. Impacting your world is just a click away at cnn.com/impact.
HOLMES: Well making sense of the latest troop reduction plan. Our Josh Levs is on top of this report.
Good morning to you, sir.
NGUYEN: Well, we see him but we can't hear him. We'll be talking to him shortly and you will be able to hear him.
HOLMES: But he is on top of it, trust me. NGUYEN: That's right. In the meantime, we're also going to be talking about another story dealing with the Pentagon and September 11th. We're going to show you a plane that was flying over Washington. The question is, why was it there? Well, we have the answer, straight ahead on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you can probably find a parking spot just about anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just wanted to buy one, immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: I don't know, T.J., can you fit in one of those?
HOLMES: I don't think so. I can fit a couple of those in my car.
NGUYEN: Just don't you plan on carrying anybody in the back seat. That is for sure, talking about that little car that might give your big SUV a run for its money.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you so much for being here with us.
There are also some vehicles being recalled this morning we need to tell but, a pretty popular car. We'll have those details in just a bit.
But first many Democrats are calling it a little too little too late. They're discontented with President Bush and his plan for bringing some U.S. troops home from Iraq.
NGUYEN: By CNN's calculations, the president plan to withdraw about 21,500 troops by July. That's the count. But is that something that we can actually count on?
CNN's Josh Levs joins us now with his Reality Check. So you've been looking into the numbers here.
JOHN LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have. You can hear me, right?
NGUYEN: We can.
We saw you talking. We just couldn't hear you.
LEVS: At least you got half the idea.
So yes exactly, 21,500. That's the figure the president is talking about. Here is the problem. We want to make it very clear to you that these are expectations, not guaranteed. The president said that General Petraeus and also Ambassador Crocker will speak to Congress again this spring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At that time, they will provide a fresh assessment of the situation in Iraq and of their troop levels and resources we need to meet our national security objectives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: It's important. Understand, it's out there in the future, really, to decide what will happen. What I've done here, I want to show you some reporting that we've had over the years about troop levels and what was going to happen. This is based on what military officials were saying at the time.
Let's go back to 2006 first. We reported that according to military sources that U.S. Commander George Casey was mulling a cut that would gradually reduce at most the equivalent of as many 2 brigades an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 troops. So folks last year we were already talking about troop cuts. Obviously the opposite happened.
Let's go back another year to 2005, quote; the military may reduce the number of U.S. troops in Iraq after next week's parliamentary elections. But actually some of those troops were slated to come home even earlier than that.
One more thing, remember the war started in 2003. Let's go all the way back to 2003. This is a quote from our reporting at the time Pentagon officials say the rotation plan will actually reduce the overall number of U.S. troops in Iraq from 130,000 to close to 100,000 and the number of troops that actually would be sent next year at that time next year we were saying would depend on the security situation in Iraq.
This is what I want you to understand. The president has given us this sense that there could be 21,500 troops coming home in July. But sometimes in our industry we hear a number enough it starts to feel concrete and it is really. We have a sense that 5,000 will come home by the end of this year. But Betty and T.J. what will happen next year, it is really up in the air. Until we hear from those guys in March we have no reason to believe or suspect any specific numbers at all.
NGUYEN: OK. But say the 21,000 do come home. Would that put the levels in Iraq at pre-surge levels?
LEVS: No, which is also really important. What we were thinking is that they were going to undo the surge. But numerically, no. About 30,000 troops were sent this year in what the administration is called the surge. However, among those you have about 8,000 that are called support troops, so a little more than 20,000 combat troops and then about 8,000 support troops. Those are not scheduled to come back. Even if we look at what the president has said in the last few days, next July, we have more than we had before the surge started earlier this year.
NGUYEN: All right. And that is how the numbers figure out. Thank you, Josh. We appreciate it.
And this "Week at War" does take a hard look at General Petraeus' Iraq plan, plus the war of words over the General's testimony and the president's speech. This "Week at War" with Tom Foreman that is today at 7:00 Eastern, 4:00 Pacific.
HOLMES: Let's talk about this mystery again. One of the big mysteries of September 11th, why as the Pentagon coming under attack was a white plane seen flying over the White House?
NGUYEN: To this day it's never been officially explained. And CNN's chief national correspondent John King is taking another look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Suddenly an orderly evacuation of the White House turned technical. In New York, the Twin Towers have collapsed. There was word of an explosion at the Pentagon. And then, Secret Service warnings of another plane still on course for Washington. It appeared over ahead just before 10:00 a.m., a four engine jet banking slowing in the nations most off limits air space. On the White House grounds and the rooftop, a nervous scramble.
About 10 minutes ago, there was a white jet circling overhead. You generally don't see planes in the area over the White House. That is restricted air space. No reason to believe that this jet was there for any nefarious purposes, but the Secret Service was very concerned, pointing up at the jet in the sky.
Six years later, these images remain one of the enduring mysteries of 9/11. Two government sources familiar with the incidents tell CNN it was a military aircraft. They say the details are classified, this comparison of the CNN video and an official air force photo suggest the mystery plane is among the militaries most sensitive aircraft. And Air Force E4B. Not the flag on the tail, the stripe around the lodge and the tell tale bubble just behind the 747 cockpit area.
MAJ. GEN. DON SHEPPERD, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET): There are many commercial versions of the 747, but I don't know of any that have the communications pod like the Air Force E-4 does behind the cockpit.
KING: The E-4b is a state of the art flying command post, built and equipped for one reason to keep the government running no matter what, even in the event of a nuclear war. That's the reason it was nicknamed the Doomsday plane during the Cold War.
SHEPPERD: They exercise this type of thing all the time and they simply don't talk about it. It doesn't surprise me that they are closed mouthed about it.
KING: Ask the Pentagon and it insists, this is not a military aircraft. And there is no mention of it in the official report of the 9/11 Commission. Commission co-chairman Lee Hamilton says he has a vague recollection of someone mentioning a mystery plane, but staffers who looked into it never found it an issue.
LEE HAMILTON, CO-CHMN., 9/11 COMMISSION: When you are conducting a major investigation, thousands of things that come at you, you can't possibly sort through them all. This never rose to the level of a discussion within the commission.
KING: To some, the lack of any official explanation leaves an ominous conspiracy. This is from an online discussion about the plane on the Web site, 911 blogger.com. I have always thought that these planes were exactly that. Mission control for the 9/11 attack on our country.
9/11 Commission co-chairman Hamilton all such talk ludicrous.
HAMILTON: We of course heard the conspiracy theories about the president ordered the attacks and the Defense Department was involved. We saw absolutely no evidence of that.
KING: But six years later, the Pentagon, the Secret Service and the FAA all say they, at least for public consumption, have no explanation of the giant plane over the president's house just as the smoke began to rise across the river at the Pentagon.
John King, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That's a very interesting report.
HOLMES: Hmmm.
NGUYEN: I know. That makes you think there.
HOLMES: Have us thinking this morning.
NGUYEN: Well we're going to talk about this, as well. Popular SUVs and compact cars are on the recall list this morning, including one of the best selling cars in the U.S. We have those details next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Abbey and I am 9 years old. This is my mom and her name is Betty and this is my other mom her name is Kim.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A video on diversity here, it teaches kids with two moms and two dads is causing quite an uproar in one school district.
NGUYEN: And a little bit latter, not all the action happens on the playing field. Check out these mascots with obviously anger management issues. We will have the details ...
HOLMES: Wait for it. Wait for it.
NGUYEN: Boom. On CNN SATURDAY MORNING. That was uncalled for.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Save time and money during the December rush. Plan for the holidays now. Set up a holiday budget based on last year's expenses. That way you won't feel the pinch when shopping season rolls around. Or start shopping now. Shopping ahead of time will allow you to make the most of sales and regular season prices.
Be sure to use the right plastic. If you'll be using a credit card for your holiday purchases, be sure to choose wisely. Choose a card with a low interest rate and take care of any credit card debt you have right now rather than the holiday frenzy.
I'm Gerri Willis and that's your tip of the day. More ideas and strategies and tips to you save money and protect your house, watch "Open House" today at 9:30 am Eastern right here on CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well, some auto recalls to tell about this morning. Chrysler says it's recalling almost 300,000 sport utility vehicles. The company says the SUVs could have braking problems during uphill driving. The recall includes thousands of Jeep Grand Cherokees and Commander SUVs from 2006 and 2007 model years and thousands more 2007 Jeep Wranglers, as well as Dodge Nitros.
HOLMES: Honda says it is recalling more than 180,000 Civics from the 2006-2007 model years. The automaker says it needs to fix a wheel bearing seal that could leek and lead to the wheel falling off. I think that is bad.
NGUYEN: This is not bad. Look at this. What more can we say about this picture? We're going to explain why this odd couple is together. That's going to be taking place here on CNN in just a few minutes.
Plus this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hit the streets of New York and quickly found that the smart car stops traffic and turns heads.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you like it? It's zippy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is zippy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: It is zippy. NGUYEN: That is not now how I want my car to drive.
HOLMES: You can call this tiny, as well. We'll take a closer look at the smart car, as it's called.
NGUYEN: I think I'd call it a money saver.
HOLMES: A money saver.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Keying things up on this Saturday morning check out this fire burning through and collapsing a building in Richmond, Indiana. Luckily, no one was inside the plastics company storage site when that fire started. No firefighters were injured. There were though initial concerns that smoke may be toxic, but wind carried that smoke away.
HOLMES: Also here are more smoke and flames from Phoenix. The fire here started on a stack of pallets. It burned trailers and a loading dock and then spread to two warehouses. Both the block long buildings were gutted, the flames downed power lines and dozens of workers had to be evacuated. It took fire crews nine hours to get this thing under control. The firefighters are still on the scene trying to handle some hot spots.
NGUYEN: And a wildfire is burning out of control in California's San Bernardino National Forest. The wind driven fire has burned at least 200 acres and forced the evacuation of several campgrounds. Firefighters have been helped by water drops from aircraft.
You know, it's supposed to teach diversity, but it is actually dividing a community, instead. Some parents are simply outraged.
HOLMES: They believe their elementary school children should not see a film featuring same-sex parents.
CNN's Mary Snow looks at this controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is the film one school district in New Jersey doesn't want their kids to see.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Abby and I'm 9 years old. This is my mom, her name is Betty. This is my other mom, her name is Kim.
SNOW: The film from Women's Educational Media is called, "That's a Family." It aims to teach diversity but it made for some heated reaction.
It all started last December when a third grade class was shown "That's a Family." Along with kids of mixed race, adoption and parents who are divorced, the film features children talking about their gay parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's really cool to have two dads because they brought us into a home, they adopted us and they love us.
SNOW: The school district formed a special committee of parents, teachers and others who reviewed it and recommended the film, instead of being shown to third graders, could be moved to the fourth grade and parents could opt not to have their children see it, but the school district decided to ban it.
Some opponents argued it wasn't age appropriate, others protested the film itself.
REBECCA NUGENT, PARENT OPPOSED TO SHOWING FILM, HAMILTON, NEW JERSEY: It's too political and it's getting into sexuality issues that aren't necessary to teach children to be kind, respectful and to get along with different people.
STEVEN GOLDSTEIN, CHMN. GARDEN STATE EQUALITY: Listen, there's such homophobia on the part of some of these parents its disgraceful. Never in my life have I seen parents so afraid and so vicious toward gay people.
SNOW: The Gay Rights Group, Garden State Equality plans to file a lawsuit to get the film reinstated in the school district. The film's creator, an academy award winner who is a winner of the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival says it's been shown in hundreds of districts around the country. She says this is the first ban of its kind.
As for the school district, a spokeswoman defended the film but school officials declined our interview request. They have said that they'll look for alternative ways to meet state mandate to teach third graders about diversity and family.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We've got a sideline. Smack down this morning. These are actually the mascots involved in the melee.
NGUYEN: That took it way too far. We're going to tell you why the feathers were flying during this college football game. That is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, the fur, the feathers, they were flying in a melee between two college mascots, of all things.
HOLMES: Yes, this started out. We've been seeing this video for a while now. The Houston cougar mascot imitated the trademark push-up of the University of Oregon duck. That got the duck feathers ruffled and led to a sideline smack down.
NGUYEN: That duck mascot was given a one-game suspension. Some say the fight was phony. He's brushing his shoulders off and all that stuff, but school leaders say it was not staged. You can take a look at it and decide for yourself. HOLMES: What do you think?
NGUYEN: I think they were having fun.
HOLMES: Who have you going to hurt in a big mascot costume?
NGUYEN: A duck?
HOLMES: I know this is one of your favorite pictures, but it is not cute to me.
NGUYEN: Why? Do you think it's an odd couple?
HOLMES: It is an odd couple.
NGUYEN: Looking at that, it could be painful. Take a look at this tiny 12-week-old monkey. It's taken a shine to its feathered friend there. The pigeon, reportedly returning the love. We're not going to explain all that.
HOLMES: This is in China. The monkey was abandoned by its mom and taken to that sanctuary. That's where they hooked up.
NGUYEN: Linked up, maybe.
HOLMES: I'm sorry. It does say linked up. Workers say the two are pretty much inseparable.
NGUYEN: They are kind of a cute odd couple.
HOLMES: Let's move on to this one now. She was working as a model and it was her training as a nurse that kicked in during a tragedy.
NGUYEN: Here is how it all started with a helicopter crash in the Gulf of Mexico near Sarasota, Florida. Jennifer Zuknich was on a boat that was being photographed by the helicopter. She jumped into the water to try and save one of the crash victims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER ZUKNICH, NURSE: Hard to do anything, you know, like CPR or anything, you can't use. They were popping in the water and I was breathing in the aviation fuel. I felt sick to my stomach, but I got him over and I could tell he was alive, he was breathing but he didn't sound good. You could hear the water in his lungs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Two photographers from the helicopter died. The pilot was injured but survived. Investigators are now investigating that crash.
NGUYEN: Need a little help getting around today? This may be an answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like a cool, neat car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you could find a parking spot just about anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just wanted to buy one, immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: It's called the smart car. We have a sneak peek that is straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: We want to keep the focus on finding Madeleine, and many people do, as well. The parents of the missing year old British girl try a new tactic. We do have a live report coming straight ahead, the details on that.
HOLMES: Also, caught cheating and is trying to move on. The New England Patriots prepare for Sunday's game after the illegal video tape against it and the hefty fine. We're following the story in our "Beyond the Game" segment.
NGUYEN: It looks like a toy, but it gets you around.
HOLMES: Called the smart car, Europe's smart car. And it's coming to the U.S.
CNN's Maggie Lake gets to test drive it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They've been zipping around Europe for years. Now the ultra-compact smart car is getting its U.S. close-up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like a neat gadget.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think you can find a parking spot just about anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just wanted to buy one, immediately.
LAKE: Not so fast. The smart cars don't hit U.S. showrooms until January. But the company has rolled out a "Cross Country" road show to give consumers a sneak peek. It even had the courage to go to Wall Street where bigwigs ride in chauffeured limos rather than tiny two- seaters.
Can culture that prides itself on big houses and jumble spot utility vehicles really fall for a car roughly the size of a gulf cart? The smart car manufactured by the German auto maker Daimler is after all, less than nine feet long. The Toyota Camry, the best selling sedan in the United States is almost twice its size. Even the mini Cooper is major compared to the smart car. The biggest hurdle may be concerns about safety.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're a little too small I think for this country and I think people will think that it's flimsy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know that I'd want to be on the FDR at 60 miles an hour and have a cab run into me.
LAKE: Smart car executives insist this car has state of the art safety features, including front and side airbags, and a sturdy steel frame. We decided to see for ourselves whether this car would pass muster in some of the toughest traffic around.
I'm going to try and make a left. I'm going to see.
With smart car CEO Dave Schembri as copilot, we hit the streets of New York and found that the smart car stopped traffic and turn heads.
Do you like it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's nice.
LAKE: Zippy. This is fabulous. Americans have been downsizing. One of every five cars sold in the U.S. in May was a compact. Schembri thinks smart cars are the next logical step.
DAVE SCHEMBRI, CEO, SMARCAR USA: America's never been more ready for a car like this. Concerns about urban congestion, environmental concerns it's becoming an economic hardship for a lot of people.
LAKE: Car experts agree.
BRADLEY RUBIN, AUTO ANALYST: It couldn't have come at a better time and it has the best chance of being successful coming in a market like this. If it's going to succeed, this is the best opportunity it has coming now.
LAKE: It's a David and Goliath story, for our auto age, soon to play out on American streets.
Maggie Lake, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: I'm Reynolds Wolf and this is a look at today's allergy report. And every spot on the map where you happen to see orange or red would indicate high traces of rag weed pollen and even dust. That's the situation in the northern half of the Great Lakes as well as the Central Plains. Where you see green and blue would indicate much cleaner air. The northern Plains, West Coast, also parts of the southeast and the extreme northeast. That's going to be the situation. Enjoy your weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: From the CNN center here in Atlanta, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING and good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. You have now seen her picture for months, Madeleine McCann's parents now asking for your help. We'll tell but that. Plus this ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELICHICK: As I stated, it's over. And we're moving on. It's San Diego and that's where we're moving on to. We're moving on to San Diego. That's what I'm addressing. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. We're moving on. We're moving on. We're moving on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yep. I believe they're moving on. The New England Patriots want to put a cheating scandal in their past, but it is definitely staying in the present, at least for now. But first, let's get you to our top story.
The parents of Madeleine McCann say they had nothing to do with her disappearance in Portugal and this morning we're now seeing a new ad campaign put the spotlight back on finding her.
Let's take you live now to CNN's Emily Chang in the family's hometown of Rothley, England.
Good morning.
EMILY CHANG, ROTHLEY, ENGLAND: Good morning.
This announcement coming out of the Glasgow this morning from John McCann, Gerry McCann's brother who today made the following statement, saying that the main objective of the Madeleine fund is to leave no stone unturned in the search for Madeleine. To that end, I would like to announce that the fund will finance a broad range of initiates in advertising to remind everyone that Madeleine is still missing.
Now we're told this campaign will include billboards and other media focusing on Spain and Portugal and other parts of Europe and John McCann said he hoped that the public would continue to support the Madeleine fund in this endeavor. Of course this coming after Kate and Gerry announced they would not be using that fund to pay for their legal fees.
Here in Rothley where the McCanns live, international media remain camped out waiting for anything to happen this morning. Another press briefing at 9:00 a.m. held by the new family spokesperson. She said Kate and Gerry have become very uncomfortable with the level of media scrutiny. However, they are grateful for everyone's continued support. She said they still get 500 to 1,000 letters a day supporting them.
However, today Madeleine is again on the cover of almost all of the British tabloids and the remarkable headlines continue today in the "Daily Express," Madeleine's body thrown into the sea. These headlines coming out every day on the cover of tabloids around the world. It goes to show the level of interest in this case despite the fact that very few facts are coming out.
And, of course, the McCann family has insisted that they believe Madeleine is alive and they are intent on finding her. They do not want to comment on the speculation fearing that would lead to more speculation. But it seems whether they comment or not, Madeleine will most likely be in the headlines again tomorrow -- Betty?
NGUYEN: Emily, let me ask you this about the investigation. What is the latest in that? Because we heard last week that the parents were, indeed, deemed a suspect in that case.
CHANG: The parents have been named formal suspects, but right now the case is in the hands of a Portuguese judge who is going to decide what they next steps will be. It could mean charges. It could mean further questioning. It could mean any number of things. And he has until Thursday to make that decision. The family spokesperson I talked to said the McCanns aren't planning to head back to Portugal anytime soon. They're simply focusing on their case and the next phase in the investigation.
NGUYEN: All right, CNN's Emily Chang joining us live from England this morning. Thank you. And CNN's Anderson Cooper will have much more on the disappearance of Maddie McCann. That's Monday night at 10:00 Eastern on a special edition of "AC 360."
HOLMES: The search goes on for a missing 12-day-old baby believed to be in the company of a teenager. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has posted a photo now of Israel Bell. The baby girl's mother is still hospitalized after complications from a C- section. According to our affiliate, WDIV, police believe the teenager took the newborn while the baby's aunt was asleep. The teen, known only as Jasmine, had been taken in by the family weeks ago.
NGUYEN: A key witness in the Warren Jeffs trial, a former child bride spoke of feeling dirty and used after sex with her husband. Sect leader Jeffs is charged with rape as an accomplice in coercing the girl into marriage. Defense attorneys contend Jeffs never commanded his female followers to submit to sex. But the now 21-year old woman testified Jeffs directed the teenage couple to go forth and replenish the earth.
HOLMES: Are these tourists in Italy or is that a mobster in hiding? Questions surround these pictures of a couple. The FBI believes they may be fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger and his long-time girlfriend Catherine Gregg (ph). Authorities are asking the public for help in making a positive ID. Bulger is the former leader of Boston's Winter Hill gang and charged in 19 murders. He disappeared in 1995 after his FBI handler tipped him off about an impending indictment.
NGUYEN: Well, O.J. Simpson is under investigation. Las Vegas police are looking into whether Simpson was involved in an alleged armed robbery at a casino hotel there. Two sports memorabilia dealers say Simpson and others came into the room and took several items worth thousands of dollars. In an interview with CNN, Simpson said, "I just wanted to get my stuff back."
Here is how one of those other witnesses described the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE FROMONG, MEMORABILIA DEALER: It was just like a home invasion, you know? They came in quick, they came in fast and people moved in to where they should be. I mean --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And O.J. was there?
FROMONG: And the last person coming in was O.J. yelling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Fromong also says at least one of the men pulled a gun. The man who led Simpson to that room described it just a little bit differently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS RICCIO, SIMPSON ASSOCIATE: O.J. came in, did not break in trying to get his stuff back. He did not have any guns. He did not have any gun with him. And he and his people confiscated the stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Simpson claims those items were personal items, some of which had been stolen from him. Now detectives have already talked with Simpson but say the investigation is still ongoing.
HOLMES: All right. Some folks just don't want to hear it. We do an O.J. story or something and they're like, why are you talking about this guy? Still, there's interest and we know there's interest.
LEVS: They're all over it. When I do my reality checks, it's often about the top news story. Then when I get to do the dot com desk, I see what people are weighing in on the most and a lot of times it's not the same story. But you know it's icon. They love blaming (ph) it on Britney and they love weighing in on this.
Ever since the story broke folks, it has been one of the most popular on cnn.com. We're talking yesterday, overnight, this morning. It keeps coming. People are fired up about this. Just listen to some of the comments that have been posted on cnn.com.
We're going to start off with this one from Textrat. "Hey, the guy's got to make a living somehow. Seriously, show of hands, who's really shocked the juice would be in trouble again?"
Now Kathleen writes us, "This is not a story warranting a special news conference. Please give as little coverage as possible to this media-seeking individual. In my opinion, most of the country could care less what O.J. does or does not do."
Now from Smitty, "If the items do belong to O.J., then he should seek their return via legal channels. He above all else should know the ins and outs of the legal system."
But Smitty might want to talk with Michael Pardue who weighs in with this. "Well, at least he got his stuff back. Calling the police would have resulted in a cop coming out with some stolen property paperwork. That paperwork getting filed with some clerk. That clerk then passing the paperwork of to some detective and that detective finally realizing he has more pressing matters."
Finally this one from Joel, "If the collectible was mine, you cannot fine!" Obviously, he's making a little pun there, a little bit of a joke based on the famous line we all know from O.J.'s murder trial.
Everyone obviously can post on this, anyone who wants to share their ideas can share them with us. Just write to weekends@cnn.com or just go to cnn.com, read the story, click on the comments and we'll be popping in throughout the morning with more of this stuff. I know you enjoyed some of those.
HOLMES: The names were interesting, too. Smitty and Textrat. Where are you getting these guys this morning?
NGUYEN: We're also going to bring you some legal analysts to talk about the legality of what was done, what was not done and should it have been done that way. So we'll get much more O.J. to come, but don't you worry.
HOLMES: But a lot of hits, a lot of interest.
LEVS: Fascination by the American public in this story. So there you go.
HOLMES: Josh, we appreciate it. We'll see you again soon. Much more ahead, coming up here including just what we like to call a little implosion on the set this morning. Did you miss this? Just a little taste here of what we have coming up. Also ahead here ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELICHICK: As I stated, it's over. And we're moving on to San Diego, that's what we're moving on to. We're moving on to San Diego. That's what I'm addressing. It doesn't matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: He wants to move on to San Diego, but Bill Belichick is still at the center of a sideline scandal and the NFL is handing down its own sentence. Sports analyst Rick Horrow joins us with more on this past mess (ph).
HOLMES: Also, he's not your average bird dog. Finding canine heads to the source.
NGUYEN: Up the tree...
HOLMES: To find his prey. Where do we find this stuff? Stick around, folks, just ahead of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Reynolds, this is one of our favorite parts of the weekend.
WOLF: It's a special time.
HOLMES: It is.
WOLF: It's a family get together kind of thing.
NGUYEN: And you wait all week for the implosions that we bring you on Saturday, don't you?
WOLF: I'm imploding inside, waiting for the implosion to occur.
NGUYEN: Stand back. Brace yourself because here it comes.
Oh, just a wonder and an eye opener, let me tell you. Another building at the Kodak complex in Rochester, New York, coming down this morning. Yeah, we got to run it one more time. Of course we do. It's the third one this year. Can we get a little sound on it? It's not an implosion without the sound.
HOLMES: In slow mo, I'm told now. This is slow motion. It's replay. Oh, my gosh. This is a lot of unused buildings that they have to clear out there. So we've actually used implosions, I believe, from the same lot before. So they've got really a lot of buildings.
WOLF: OK. All right, guys (INAUDIBLE).
NGUYEN: The Kodak complex is the gift that keeps on giving here at CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
WOLF: ... some kind of place where they do all this sort of stuff, the special effects we're seeing and they do the implosions. They get the shots with the monkeys and the pigeons and they get it all together.
NGUYEN: And they give it to us.
WOLF: That's the one I'm talking about.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Meanwhile, we got a fire to show you taking down a building in Richmond, Indiana. No one was inside this plastics company storage sight (INAUDIBLE). Nobody was in there when this thing started.
NGUYEN: Fire officials said the smoke was probably toxic, but environmental concerns were allayed when winds blew the smoke away from that area. It simply dissipated from there, but fire crews are monitoring that area today. Game plan for Sunday, leave the video camera in the locker room. Don't even bring those cell phones with cameras on it, OK, as the Patriots try to move on after being flagged by the NFL for spying. Sports business analyst Rick Horrow coming up. You got your cell phone with your camera?
I'm going to talk anyway. I'm sorry. I'm going to say hi to you and we'll talk afterwards.
HOLMES: We'll see you shortly. Also ahead, tower, we got a problem here. Landing, but not at the airport. The pilot does what he has to do, apparently. Stick around for that story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BELICHICK: As I stated, it's over and we're moving on. It's San Diego. And that's what we're moving on to. We're moving on to San Diego. That's what I'm addressing. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. We're moving on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. I think Bill Belichick would like to move on, the Patriots coach wallet $500,000 lighter. The NFL fining Belichick over videotaping of opposing coaches' signals during last Sunday's game against the New York Jets. This from the Patriots owner Bob Kraft. He says, I am deeply disappointed that the embarrassing events of this past week may cause some people to see our team in a different light. Well, different light. You think, Betty?
NGUYEN: That's a nice way of putting it.
HOLMES: Our good friend here sports business analyst Rick Harrow, pretty Ricky what they call him. He joins us now from West Palm Beach, Florida. Kind sir, is everybody looking at this team differently now? This was a team that was supposed to just be a dynasty that he built. He got so much credit for being the mastermind behind this thing. Should that be called into question now?
RICK HORROW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here is what I'm doing. Since coaches get away with this, I don't want anybody stealing my signals so I'm going to talk with this over my face, right? I'm sure you guys will be upset (ph) but you're not going be that lucky. Here's the bottom line. The Patriots are worth $1 billion or so. The NFL is a $7 billion business. The legacy, three Super Bowls, Belichick is a super hero.
When you look at his apology, he technically admits responsibility, but he says it's a distraction and it's an embarrassment and a technical violation of the rules. Let me tell you something, this calls into question the integrity of the game and in that case, it's a lot more than just a technical violation. I think the backlash you see around the country is a testament to that. HOLMES: OK, how widespread, he surely is not the only one, the Patriots not the only ones doing it. How widespread is something like this in the NFL? Is it just kind of accepted?
HORROW: Well, listen, if you remember, there's a scandal that goes way back to college football in 1976. Barry Switser (ph), the Oklahoma (INAUDIBLE) coach then was said to have hired a painter to masquerade as a painter to go into Texas practices and steal their signals. Betty may remember that, although I'm not sure she was born then. The bottom line is, this happens all the time. And Motorola's new technology, NFL, more and more, now you steal microchip signals.
So there is a competitive line that's always drawn. The issue was the commissioner said don't do this at the beginning of the season and Belichick was caught, they say doing exactly that. That's the point.
HOLMES: All right then. We had the Michael Vick thing and we haven't heard as much about that lately because he just has been in court, nothing really updating us on that story. But that was kind of a black eye to the NFL coming into the season. The season starts off now and this great team is now being accused and admitted, like you said, cheating. How much is this hurting the NFL now, this new scandal?
HORROW: Well, the NFL specifically, remember, Paul Tagliabu (ph) was the economic commissioner, leveling the playing field, labor peace. Roger Goodell comes in and he's now the image commissioner. Michael Vick stuff last weekend was the highest injury rate of any in the NFL. Kevin Everett, the Buffalo Bill, he hopefully will walk again.
But that was a legitimate (INAUDIBLE) and now we're right back in the image issue again. And so are we ever going to see a point where people look at the game on the field and say, that's the way it's supposed to be? It's going to take a little while, I think.
HOLMES: It's going to take a little while. That is unfortunate to hear.
And on the Everett story, we have an update here in just a second. But Goodell I know got a lot of credit for actually taking -- going there himself and going with his family to visit Everett and a lot of people thought was a classy move at the hospital. So maybe that's a bit of good news, something positive about the NFL there Rick.
HORROW: We watch very carefully, though. We've got a lot of issues regarding the future integrity of sports, the Danahee (ph) issue in basketball, the bond scandal, so we'll talk about that over time.
HOLMES: We certainly will. Rick, always good to see you, kind sir.
HORROW: All right. Next week. NGUYEN: Let's get back to Kevin Everett for just a second because there is some potentially positive news on the condition of the Buffalo Bill's tight end Everett. A family friend saying Everett moved three fingers on his right hand. Everett damaged his spinal cord making a tackle in Sunday's game against the Broncos. At the time, doctors said he was a quadriplegic. But he has now started to move his toes, ankles and now his fingers.
HOLMES: That is wonderful news there, wonderful news. We'll keep an eye on that.
Coming up next here, some interesting video we showed you just a time ago about this bird dog. Not your average. Climbing canine, he goes right to the source. We're heading to the water cooler, where else for this story.
NGUYEN: Maybe more bird than dog there. He's up in a tree and in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING, a new development in the case that has split a the town along racial lines. One of the Jena six has his conviction tossed out.
HOLMES: Also a couple hours from now in the CNN NEWSROOM, an uplifting story. (INAUDIBLE) giant steps at a state of the art rehab center.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: We see quite a few odd things around here, but we really want you to take a look at this because this is a 10-point landing. Look at that. That is not a crash, but a landing there. A Cessna perched on top of a warehouse roof in Columbia, South Carolina.
HOLMES: The airport manager says the plane clipped a power line as it was taking off. That's (INAUDIBLE) Three people were aboard. They were treated and released from the hospital.
NGUYEN: And this, a dog with a very rare talent. There she is, up this tree, seven-year-old pouch named Kodi has no trouble scaling a 40-foot blue spruce.
HOLMES: That Kodi has got skill. Kodi's owner says the dog climbs trees every single day, rain or shine. He's been trying to get Kodi into the Guinness report book. No success just yet. Plan B though is to get Kodi on the Letterman show.
NGUYEN: I like that Kodi.
HOLMES: Kodi is all right.
NGUYEN: Not bad. All right. Let's meet Zeno, sort of, kind of a modern take on Pinocchio.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
