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CNN Saturday Morning News
Details Emerge on New Hampshire Hostage Taker; Arrests Made in Sean Taylor Shooting; Concert for World AIDS Day; AIDS Quilt Visits College Campuses
Aired December 01, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hey there. Good morning, everybody, from the CNN center in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could be with us this morning.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. It is a busy news morning so let's get you up to speed right now. There are new developments in that hostage drama at Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office. You may have missed it late last night. Clinton held a news conference. The entire drama played out on CNN live and we are in Rochester this morning.
HOLMES: And another major, major story this morning, four arrests in the killing of NFL superstar Sean Taylor. Suspects will be in court this morning. CNN is there. Police are now laying out their theory of how this all went down, really a sad and strange set of circumstances there. But we will get into that this morning.
But first we will start with that drama at Hillary Clinton's office. She is now back to presidential politics today following that hostage drama at her office up in New Hampshire.
NGUYEN: Yes, Senator Hillary Clinton relieved that the standoff in Rochester, New Hampshire, ended peacefully. But this morning we're learning more about the suspect. He faces possible charges of kidnapping and reckless conduct. Federal charges could also be added. Police say the ordeal started with his plea for help for mental problems.
A few more details on this now, want to go live now to the scene in Rochester, New Hampshire. CNN's Jim Acosta is there. Jim, good morning to you.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J.
Senator Hillary Clinton's staff says the candidate may not be making an appearance at this campaign office today because they don't want to be seen as politicizing what happened here yesterday. In the meantime, though, this may just be a day for the campaign staffers here to get back to normal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Wearing a fake bomb that was nothing more than road flares duct taped to his chest, Leeland Eisenberg surrendered to police, ending a tense hostage crisis that brought the race for the White House to a standstill. For more than five hours, Eisenberg, a 46-year-old with a history of mental illness, was holed up inside this Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire, threatening to blow up a handful of staffers, a child and himself.
At one point during the crisis, Eisenberg called CNN, complaining that he had been unable to seek treatment for his mental illness and added that he had gone to that campaign office to speak with the candidate directly. But police say involving the presidential hopeful was not an option.
CHIEF DAVID DUBOIS, ROCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE POLICE: We decided not to introduce anyone from the campaign or the senator's office into the negotiation process.
ACOSTA: Eventually the hostages were released. The fake bomb was destroyed by police. And late in the evening, Senator Clinton flew to New Hampshire for a brief visit with the then released hostages and their families.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're immensely relieved that this has ended peacefully. To see the people who were directly held hostage and their families and to thank the New Hampshire professionals who made this day turn out as well as it did.
ACOSTA: Over at Eisenberg's mobile home community a few miles away, neighbors say they saw early warning signs of trouble ranging from alcohol abuse to loud arguments at the suspect's home.
GEORGE ISAACSON, NEIGHBOR: He would walk over to the filling station right up the street every day and always get either a 12-pack or something like that. This is every day.
ERIC CARLSON, NEIGHBOR: They hauled him away for domestic violence, yes. I don't know what happened. I was coming in from work and they were hauling him in the cruiser.
ACOSTA: On Eisenberg's front door, a note from his family saying they have no comment for now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And neighbors at Leeland Eisenberg's neighborhood believe what happened yesterday may have been a cry for help from Eisenberg. This morning, he is in jail here in Rochester -- T.J.?
HOLMES: And Jim, any reason or any indication of the Clinton campaign's going to make any changes at their office, any security changes at this office or any others around the country?
ACOSTA: I tell you T.J., that's going to be very difficult to do. This is retail politics in the flesh here. If you look behind me, this Hillary Clinton campaign office is literally right off of the sidewalk here in what is a Norman Rockwell-style downtown here in Rochester and as soon as you walk in that door, you're in the campaign office, so it would be very difficult to put in metal detectors, that sort of thing. You know, this could be the new age of campaigning here in the 21st century because of incidents, what happened yesterday.
But just next door, two doors down, is the Obama campaign. It's the same setup, the same setup for other candidates here in this town. Something like that would be very difficult to do. But having said all of that, we're going to have to see what happens. We're going to have to see how this staff responds today.
HOLMES: All right, Jim Acosta for us in Rochester, New Hampshire. Jim, thank you so much.
NGUYEN: Well, investigators say 46-year-old Leeland Eisenberg was deeply troubled. Three days before Friday's hostage taking, Eisenberg's wife filed for divorce. Only a half hour before the hostage incident began, he was due in court for a hearing on domestic violence charges. Police say Eisenberg demanded to talk to Senator Clinton about helping him get mental health care services and our Anderson Cooper talked with one mental health expert about the problems of getting care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: If you have a family member, a loved one who needs help, is not willing to help themselves, it's very difficult to get that help for them.
DR. JEFFREY LIEBERMAN, NY PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: Well, treatment for mental illness is available. It's abundant in a variety of places in our health care system. The problem is there's not enough of it and the reimbursement, the insurance or financial coverage for it is not comparable to that that we have for other medical illnesses. So, as a result, people don't necessarily know where to go and if they do go, they may not have coverage and they have to pay out of pocket.
The other thing which frequently happens is that people who are affected by illnesses like depression, like schizophrenia, like psychotic disorders, they often don't realize that their brain is dysfunctioning and that they're mentally disturbed, and they don't think they need help, which then places the burden on their loved ones to get them treatment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: During the standoff, Eisenberg had three conversations with CNN staffers in Washington and here in Atlanta. He told us he had mental health problems and couldn't get the help that he needed.
HOLMES: Let's turn now to the other major story that developed really yesterday, four people now in custody this morning in connection with the killing of pro football star Sean Taylor. Police say a 20-year-old man and three teenagers were arrested in this case in southwest Florida.
NGUYEN: They're accused in the robbery and shooting death of Taylor in Miami. Our John Zarrella is in Ft. Myers, Florida, where the arrests were made.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Totally distraught, shocked, the mother of Jason Mitchell arrived to face the unthinkable -- her son is being charged along with three others in the murder of Washington Redskins football star Sean Taylor. Miami-Dade police say the four young men ranging in age from 17 to 20 came from Ft. Myers, Florida, across to Miami to burglarize the player's home.
ROBERT PARKER, MIAMI-DADE POLICE DIRECTOR: They were certainly not looking to go there and kill anyone. They were expecting a residence that was not occupied. So, murder or shooting someone was not their initial motive.
ZARRELLA: During a Friday night news conference, police said the suspects had previously visited the house but would not elaborate on the connection. Outside the headquarters of the Florida department of law enforcement in Ft. Myers, where the four had been questioned all day, reporters got glimpses of them in handcuffs and even watched as a court stenographer followed one of the suspects into the interview room.
PARKER: I'm just going to tell you that we have confessions within this investigation. I'm not going to tell you which ones confessed and which ones did not. We have more than one confession. I'll put it at that.
ZARRELLA: Police say they are looking into the possibility that at least one of them knew someone in Taylor's family. All four of the suspects are no strangers to the law with charges ranging from drug possession and sales to grand theft auto. Taylor was murdered in the early morning hours last Monday when he reportedly confronted his assailant at the door to his bedroom. He was shot once in the leg and died the next day from massive bleeding. The grandmother of suspect Jason Mitchell says she saw him the day of the shooting.
You saw him Monday here, though, right?
MILLIE HENDRICKS, MITCHELL'S GRANDMOTHER: I saw him home Monday.
ZARRELLA: But you don't know about Sunday.
HENDRICKS: No, I do not. I don't know nothing about no Sunday. I saw him Monday.
ZARRELLA: Taylor's memorial service will be held on Monday in Miami, Taylor's hometown. The entire Washington Redskins football team, along with several thousand mourners, are expected to attend.
John Zarrella, CNN, Ft. Myers, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And again, those suspects expected to be in court this morning. Our John Zarrella going to join us live a little later. Well, violence on the street coming home to one Miami family and at the half hour, we're going to meet a man who says he's seen too much of it, this guy we're looking at here. Our Rick Sanchez in Miami for us. We'll have that story. Stick around for that.
Yes it is world AIDS day. Big concert happening in Johannesburg, South Africa, supposed to get started in about 10 minutes. 2007 now the fifth year for this event.
NGUYEN: And they are doing it up this year, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, the GooGoo Dolls, Ludacris, those are just some of the artists expected to be performing today and we will be talking with some of them throughout the morning so you don't want to miss it. It's an important cause. Robyn Curnow is live in Johannesburg at Ellis Park (ph) stadium. Robin, the concert kicks off as we mentioned in just a few minutes. Tell us what's in store.
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there Betty.
We've actually got some prime seats here. We're right backstage and four triple six four. The name of the concert is actually named after Nelson Mandela's old prison number, and this concert number is Nelson Mandela's personal charity. He wants to try and make a difference. He says it's musicians who really get the message across to young people to change their behavior. That's what he's doing today.
Now to give you just some sense of just how bad the epidemic is in South Africa, let me just give you some -- people are starting to trickle through here into the stadium. It's going to be going on for the next 10 hours this concert, so don't worry if you're seeing empty seats. In all in all, you're going to see about 35,000, 40,000 people who are going to be watching the concert today Betty and to just put it into perspective, that's the same amount of people who are going to die of AIDS here in South Africa in the next month to six weeks. The death rate here is absolutely appalling, six million people living with AIDS but 1,000 people dying every day.
A recent survey, Betty, said that here in South Africa, people spend more time going to funerals than they do going shopping or going to have their hair cut or even having barbecues. So, the daily effects of HIV/AIDS on communities, on societies, is quite overwhelming. So, this concert today is Nelson Mandela's way of trying to say to people the only way you can protect yourself to take personal responsibility. That's the message today.
NGUYEN: Yes, and the numbers are just staggering. Of course, we'll be speaking with you throughout the morning as we dip into that concert throughout the day. Thank you, Robyn, talk to you soon.
HOLMES: And the concert (INAUDIBLE) often referred to, you may have just heard her say in short-hand as 46664. It's the five-digit number you're going to be hearing a lot and seeing a lot today. 46664 was Nelson Mandela's prison number when he was incarcerated in South Africa's Robin Island. Since 2003, it has been adopted as the name of Mandela's HIV and AIDS campaign in Africa. You can learn a lot more about it at www.46664.com.
NGUYEN: And coming up next hour, who represents the current face of this disease? The answer is going to surprise you.
HOLMES: Also a little later, hear first hand from a young woman who's been living with the disease for the past decade and her difficult decision to let the world know she is HIV positive.
NGUYEN: A winter like storm is causing travel troubles and Reynolds Wolf is here with a look at all of that. A lot on your hands today, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: No question about it. We're talking about a storm that is going to affect millions of people that is surging its way across parts of the Rockies, the central plains and eventually moving into the great plains. I'll tell you how long this monster is going to last and what you can expect in your hometown. That's all coming up in just a few minutes.
HOLMES: All right. Keep an eye on the watch there, Reynolds. We'll see you shortly sir.
They were set free and rearrested in the Natalee Holloway case. Now we've got another new twist to tell you about.
NGUYEN: Also, another quick look at live at pictures from world AIDS day, a concert taking place in just a few minutes in Johannesburg, South Africa, look at the folks filing in. We'll have much more on this throughout the day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Let's get you a quick look at headlines right now.
HOLMES: A positive identification up first to tell you about. Police say DNA tests confirm the toddler known as baby Grace was, in fact, Riley Ann Sawyers. The two-year-old Ohio girl's body washed ashore in Texas in October. The mother told police the child was beaten to death. In Ohio, dozens of people gathered for a vigil last night in memory of the little girl.
NGUYEN: Meanwhile, looking for answers. Investigators are trying to figure out why an Amtrak train and a freight train ended up on the same track at the same time in Chicago. Dozens of people were hurt in yesterday's collision, five of them seriously injured. Investigators hope to get clues from an event recorder. Now, that's a similar device to flight recorders on airplanes.
HOLMES: And death of a daredevil. A lot of people thought he might have been killed in some of these stunts he pulled off and some of those spectacular crashes.
NGUYEN: They were spectacular.
HOLMES: That did not happen. But now Evel Knievel is dead at the age of 69. He became a pop culture icon. Maybe his most famous jump was when he tried to jump over Idaho's Snake River canyon in 1974, also really well known for that jump he tried at Caesar's Palace in Vegas, that spectacular crash seeing his body bounce off the ground. But he broke more than 40 bones during his career, had several major health problems in the last few years, again, Evel Knievel dead at the age of 69.
NGUYEN: Pretty young.
HOLMES: Yeah.
NGUYEN: Evil Knievel and all the risks that he's taken over his life, 69 years old.
HOLMES: He survived all those jumps, but, yeah, 69. A lot of people got to remember some of those. That wasn't really us growing up watching him. We were -- or you were, at least, a little young for that.
NGUYEN: OK. Put it on me.
Speaking of daredevils, Reynolds Wolf is our resident daredevil. He's been tracking some extreme weather.
WOLF: One difference, guys, one difference. I don't wear a crash helmet.
NGUYEN: Is that it?
WOLF: Entirely different.
NGUYEN: Maybe you know what, that explains so much. Doesn't it?
(WEATHER REPORT)
WOLF: Switching gears just a little bit, I was lucky enough just this past week -- I'm going to pop over onto this other camera -- to go to (INAUDIBLE) Springs and to Sweetwater elementary school where we spoke to a group of fourth graders who were kind enough to give me these really, really neat cards. I don't know if you can pick these up on camera.
I think you can, just some incredible artwork, some really cool cards. Not only do we have some clouds and some rain drops, they even managed to put some sunshine in there. Even I can't do that. Completely spellbound and these kids were incredibly smart, asked some great questions. It was certainly an honor to be there. I bet you guys at the news desk weren't lucky enough to receive these.
NGUYEN: I got to ask you this, what was the hardest question you got?
WOLF: Hardest question you got is actually had a very, very bright -- they're all bright, they're all smart. One very, very intelligent young lady asked me what is weather?
NGUYEN: Really. WOLF: What is weather. I explained to her --
NGUYEN: How did you answer that?
WOLF: I explained to her that it's what happens on the earth when you have differences of heatings on the earth's surface caused by the sun and the reactions, the chemical reaction you have from that.
NGUYEN: And then you saw this glazed look in her eye.
WOLF: I had this glazed look in my own eye. I keeled over and they had to bring me back.
NGUYEN: I'm sure they really appreciated coming out.
WOLF: Let's hope so.
NGUYEN: We got to tell you about today.
HOLMES: All right, we'll turn back to the Clinton presidential campaign staffers that were held hostage, new details emerging about the suspect. You might have missed this story if you went to bed a little early, this one developed overnight. We'll have the latest right here throughout the morning for you.
NGUYEN: Also, it is world AIDS day and we're going to tell you how the message of prevention is being taught to young people.
HOLMES: The Bush administration's accident programs working to prevent the spread of AIDS. That's the focus of today's "reality check."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: The AIDS memorial quilt that is is perhaps the single- most dramatic symbol of the disease's devastating impact in the U.S. over the past 20 years.
HOLMES: It's the 20-year anniversary we're celebrating right now. Still a new generation of sexually active young people, many of them in college, they never really went through the experience. They haven't learned how deadly AIDS is. To help get the message out, the quilt on display at college campuses across the country this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): Universally known as a symbol of both national and personal grief, the 54-ton quilt over the past 20 years has become part of the fabric that makes up America.
JULIE RHOAD, EXEC. DIR., AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT: Being designated as an American treasure puts us in the league with very significant material culture collections and buildings and artifacts and will stand as testimony to our value in telling America's history.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much love has gone into each one of these panels? And what it really means in terms of the human beings who have suffered from this disease and left behind so many families and loved ones.
HOLMES: That history began with the quilt's first panel for an AIDS victim from San Francisco in 1987. The AIDS memorial quilt now has about 47,000 memorial panels and represents the lives of more than 90,000 people who have died from the disease that afflicts millions worldwide. Four hundred large sections of the quilt will be on display from coast to coast this month at churches, museums and even the CNN center and more than 100 displays are traveling to college campuses where AIDS activists say greater awareness is needed.
NINA MARTINEZ, EMORY UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I'm here at Emory is because you guys all have such great researchers in HIV and I'm actually HIV positive.
DANIEL SPERLING, EMORY UNIVERSITY STUDENT: Well, right now we're not growing up and seeing our friends die of HIV like they did in the '80s and the '90s, so really people don't feel like they're being affected by it, even though if you look at the statistics, we are.
HOLMES: Those statistics according to the names (ph) project, show that half of all new HIV cases in the United States involve people under the age of 25. Atlanta's Emory University is hosting the largest display of a section of the quilt on a college campus hoping it will serve as a powerful and important educational tool for students.
MARTINEZ: This is part of being a young person and believing nothing will ever happen to you. They think when you walk around in that kind of state of denial, that's when it's most likely able to happen to you. I don't think we talk about denial as a risk factor for HIV.
HOLMES: But many college students have gotten the message and even make the HIV question a part of dating life.
TAHIRAH MUHAMMED, CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I ask them, one, if first they ever, you know, even had sex, how many partners they have, if they've ever been tested, things like that.
HOLMES: The quilt on the quad campaign hopes to make AIDS a part of college education.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And on today's "HOUSE CALL" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he's looking at an area of South Africa where 77 percent of the population is infected with AIDS. Find out why Americans need to pay attention to this crisis. That's today at 8:30 Eastern right here on "HOUSE CALL."
NGUYEN: When we look at that quilt, I just want to go back to it for just a second, because we talk about an AIDS quilt and you think of it altogether as one piece, but you're saying the thing is just too big. HOLMES: It's too big. The AIDS quilt may never, ever be in one place at one time again because it's 47,000 of those panels dedicated to somebody in memoriam. All those pieces put together, where do you put that? And really it's 47,000. The last time it was all together was in 1996 on the national mall.
We had a picture of it there in the piece there. But it covered the entire national mall and that was in '96 and it has grown exponentially since that time. It is just massive. It may never be together at one place at one time. People here, the AID quilt is on display, they often think yes, sure enough, we're going to see...
NGUYEN: This one gigantic quilt.
HOLMES: But it's these 12 x 12 chunks that they have and people request to have it come out to a school or a campus or something like that and they send them 12 x 12 pieces.
NGUYEN: So it's more manageable. I can't imagine hauling that huge thing.
HOLMES: And there it is. That's the picture.
NGUYEN: Look at that.
HOLMES: And that was in '96. And this thing has grown maybe even doubled since '96.
NGUYEN: Yeah, where would you put it?
HOLMES: It may not be a place in this country that you could lay that thing out even if you tried to. That's how it's managed, in those chunks.
NGUYEN: In fact though, at 10:00 Eastern today, you're going to be out where they are housing the quilt.
HOLMES: They have it at a warehouse here in Atlanta, Georgia actually and it's all taken care of. It's amazing really how they manage it and keep up with all those panels.
NGUYEN: And preserve it, I'm sure, too.
HOLMES: Amazing.
NGUYEN: Looking forward to that.
In the meantime though, want to tell you about this, violence on the streets in big cities. We hear about these stories, right? But the mean streets of Miami are a reality for many families. Our Rick Sanchez talks to a man who lost his grandson.
HOLMES: Also, our Joshua Levs keeping it real as always. Josh, good morning, sir.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Back to AIDS for a second, it's fascinating how that quilt concept took off. It's really interesting to follow that. What we're doing today in this segment, we're going to take a look at a government rule. Billions of taxpayer dollars are going into the international battle against AIDS. But is a government rule actually damaging the effort? Coming up, I'll explain. Betty?
NGUYEN: And we have so much more coming up here on CNN. In fact, we'll be dipping in live to South Africa where the world AIDS day concert is staking place. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And a couple of major developing stories on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
Up this, new developments in that hostage drama that unfolded at Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office.
NGUYEN: And four arrests in the Sean Taylor killing. Those suspects in court a little bit later this morning.
We do have live coverage of both of these stories. You'll want to stay right here.
We do want to welcome you back, though. Thanks for joining us today.
I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. So glad you all could be here.
NGUYEN: Well, it is a back to presidential politics for Senator Hillary Clinton today after a hostage drama at one of her campaign offices.
HOLMES: Yes. Police say a man complained that he couldn't get mental health treatment, took five people hostage in Rochester, New Hampshire. They were eventually released, all those hostages, unharmed. Senator Clinton of course saying she's relieved by the whole thing. A witness now describes here for you what he saw and what he heard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was actually pretty quiet except for police radios for quite a while. Then I heard some -- they were talking to him over the loud speaker. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but obviously just trying to...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in touch with him?.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At one point you saw some hostages leave?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what did that look like?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They seemed to be, considering everything, pretty together, all right. They weren't panicky or anything. They just seemed just a little bit distressed, but very together, and no tears or anything. Just upset.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they have a lot of officers surrounding them?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as they got away, yes, they were whisked away pretty quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We were in touch from the moment this began with local, county, state, federal law enforcement. And I am so grateful to them for their response which brought this hostage situation to such a good ending.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, Leeland Eisenberg surrendered to police after more than five hours. What he claimed was a bomb strapped to his body turned out to be road flares held with tape. Eisenberg faces charges of kidnapping and reckless conduct now.
NGUYEN: In another story, four men will be in court in about, oh, an hour and a half from now facing murder charges in the death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor.
HOLMES: Police arrested these four suspects yesterday. Those are the four you're seeing there -- 20-year-old Venjah Hunte, and then three teenagers, 17-year-old Eric Rivera Jr.; 17-year-old Jason Scott Mitchell; and also 18-year-old Charles Wardlow. The head of the police department says investigators have more than one confession in this case, and there may be more arrests to come.
Our John Zarrella in Ft. Myers for the courtroom appearance. He'll bring us a live update from there coming up a little later this morning.
NGUYEN: Well, you know, the killing of Sean Taylor, a high- profile example of big-city violence.
HOLMES: And our Rick Sanchez in Miami, where he met one man who says that violence is tearing his community apart, and he's living with a personal loss he cannot forget.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Often when we cover stories like this, we talk to the experts. You've heard from them, the activists, the mayors, the police chiefs. But what about the people who are truly affected by something like this, people like this grandfather that I had a chance to yesterday who's got his own very important loss?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lay-up.
SANCHEZ (voice over): I ran into Stanford Patton (ph) at a park. He's by far the youngest 70-year-old I've ever met, young enough to kick my butt in basketball, old enough to know how to enjoy it, and proud enough to show me the old black and whites of his playing days with the likes of Bill Russell and Oscar Robertson.
He's almost boyish on the basketball court. But watch his transformation when I ask about what's happening to black boys on the streets of Miami.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look around you. You know, just look around. Look around America. Everything is stacked against them, any born black, boys.
SANCHEZ (on camera): Born black.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boys.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
(voice over): He seems angry. And this may be why. This is his grandson, who wears an image on his chest of Stanford's other grandson, the one murdered at the age of 17, not far from here just a month ago, because of a street rivalry.
(on camera): Your grandson just showed me a shirt of his brother who was murdered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
SANCHEZ: What does that tell you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm immune to it, man. It takes 70 years.
SANCHEZ: Immune to that, to murder?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look...
SANCHEZ: That was your grandson who died. That was your grandson who was murdered?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. He's not the only one that's been murdered. You understand? You just can't get tied it up with one. It happens so much. I can see it coming more.
SANCHEZ: Where's the...
(voice over): It's hard to understand immunity to murder. Stanford (ph) says he just has to keep on going while he keeps on playing a young man's game.
(on camera): He tells me that he really doesn't have any hope, but then he said something else. He said, "Rick, I've been on this planet for 70 years and I've never voted. But this coming election, for the first time in my life, I'm going to vote for a proud black man." He says he's impressed by Barack Obama and plans to cast a vote for him.
In Miami, I'm Rick Sanchez.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: That's telling there.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: You never think you hear that, immune to death. Seventy years old, he's seen so much of it, he's immune to it.
NGUYEN: Exactly.
HOLMES: A lot of people probably out there like that, but a lot of us can't understand that, really.
All right.
Well, something to keep an eye on today, World AIDS Day, of course, and the fifth annual World AIDS Day concert going on right now in Johannesburg, South Africa.
NGUYEN: It's supposed to last about, what, eight hours? What a day that they have planned there.
We're going to take you there now with our Robyn Curnow, who joins us live with the festivities which are under way.
I can hear the music in the background, Robyn.
CURNOW: Hey. You know, it's going to be very difficult for me to hear you because the concert has started. We're backstage. You've got a great position over here.
The South African group the Pilot Tones (ph) has kicked off this World AIDS Day concert. It's being hosted by Nelson Mandela. It's his Charity, 46664, that is putting this up.
The lineup today is going to be quite an impressive lineup, local and international bands. We're going to see the Goo Goo Dolls, (INAUDIBLE). Of course a lot of famous South African acts that maybe you guys in America are not too familiar with.
But the crowd is going to be really loving it. They've started to trickle in now.
Now, the message that is going to be broadcast today -- this concert is going on live across the world and particularly in Africa, and the message that all of the musicians are going to be saying, they're going to be saying, it's in your hands, it's in our hands, for people -- for the world to fight HIV, that everybody individually has to take responsibility. And they're doing this by showing an impression of Nelson Mandela's hand.
He's holding his hand up and he's saying, it's in my hand, it's in your hand. That is the message that's going to happen today.
Back to you.
NGUYEN: All right, Robyn. Thank you.
And it's such an important message, too, as we listen to a little bit of the music. We'll be dipping in throughout the morning so that you won't miss it.
But do want to give you a little bit of the numbers because it's truly staggering. When we talk about AIDS, we're going to be talking about what it means to Americans here. But worldwide, there are 2.5 million AIDS orphans in the world. And listen to this, 2.2 million of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.
So, that gives you an extent of the problem and why it's such a big push on days like this, World AIDS Day, to get that message out. So we'll be having much more of that throughout the morning.
HOLMES: A lot of that coverage this morning, yes.
NGUYEN: Well, President Bush has made abstinence and fidelity a major focus in the government's battle against AIDS around the world.
HOLMES: But is it an effective strategy?
CNN's Josh Levs here with a reality check.
Kind sir, good morning.
LEVS: Hey, good morning to you guys.
You know something? There's no question. I mean, the U.S. is helping around the world to combat AIDS. That's a fact. But there's also a U.S. rule involving abstinence, and now government studies are showing that that rule could actually be damaging the effort.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS (voice over): The United States has committed billions of dollars to fighting the spread of AIDS worldwide. Some of it through teaching what President Bush calls prevention messages.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... which is abstinence, be faithful, and use condoms.
LEVS: Of the $350 million the U.S. is spending this year to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV, the majority, $200 million, is for programs encouraging abstinence and marital fidelity and discouraging casual sex. Health officials have long cautioned those activities don't work well everywhere. DR. JIM YONG Kim, WHO: In some societies, women cannot choose to be abstinent, so it's difficult to ask them to be abstinent. In some societies, the highest risk for becoming infected with HIV is being married.
LEVS: The United States requires each country to spend at least 33 percent of prevention funds on abstinence programs. Two congressionally-mandated reports say that rule can damage efforts to fight AIDS.
The National Institute of Medicine found no evidence that abstinence programs work alone, and the institute said the funding requirement can make it harder to tailor activities to a country's individual needs. And while U.S. officials allow countries to apply for exemptions from the 33 percent rule, the Government Accountability Office says some non-exempted countries had to cut funding for other prevention programs.
Still, support for abstinence programs is just a slice of overall U.S. aid, which also goes to treatment facilities and medicine. There is no doubt U.S. efforts are making a big difference.
BUSH: The money that you have spent is being spent wisely in saving lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: And that one-third requirement has actually become a major political issue now. All the Democratic contenders, the leading Democratic contenders for the presidency, have spoken out against it. And guys, now Senator Hillary Clinton has said that when she becomes president -- the way she talks -- when she becomes president, she says she actually plans to strike that rule.
So, with World AIDS Day now, we can expect more and more candidates to weigh in on this kind of thing -- Betty, T.J.
NGUYEN: Oh, yes, no doubt.
All right, Josh. Thanks for that.
LEVS: Yes.
NGUYEN: In the meantime, the co-founders of H.E.R.O. -- it's called Hearts Everywhere Reaching Out for Children -- is an organization dedicated to improving the lives of kids right here in Georgia with AIDS and HIV. We're going to talk with them at 9:15 Eastern this morning.
HOLMES: All right. We turn back to this other Hillary Clinton story, if you will.
What in the world would make somebody take hostages at her headquarters there, or her campaign office in New Hampshire?
NGUYEN: We're going to try to answer some of those questions. Plus, as new developments break, we're going to bring that to you, as well.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
HOLMES: Well, AIDS, of course, still a fatal disease, and an HIV diagnosis can still be a death sentence, but certainly not like it was 20 years ago. Today, many people remain healthy for many, many years.
NGUYEN: Yes, they do.
CNN's Don Lemon offers a glimpse into the daily battle of AIDS patients as they fight for their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Every morning Theron Stuart counts his blessings.
THERON STUART, AIDS ALLIANCE: I go to my kitchen cabinet, I pull out my meds, one at a time.
LEMON: Among those blessings, the pills he needs to keep him alive.
STUART: And I look at my pills and I take the biggest one first.
LEMON: It's been the same ritual for seven years since the 50- year-old divorced Baptist minister learned he was HIV positive. At first, he says, he was in denial.
STUART: Ministers aren't supposed to have this. You know, Christians aren't supposed to have this. Good people aren't supposed to have this. Fathers aren't supposed to have this.
And I came down with it. This virus knows no discrimination whatsoever.
LEMON: But the turning point for Reverend Stuart didn't come until months later when he saw someone die from AIDS.
STUART: I had a message to tell, and people needed to hear that story, hear that message.
LEMON: That awakening eventually led him to the AIDS Alliance for Faith and Health in Atlanta, an outreach and support organization for people living with HIV.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, family. My name is Alvis (ph). And it feels so good to see you today. I'm really feeling the spirit today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have good news though. My T-cell is 525.
(APPLAUSE)
LEMON: It's the closest thing to family many here know. When 40-year-old Travelle Ambrose (ph) was diagnosed with AIDS on his 21st birthday, he says his family disowned him.
TRAVELLE AMBROSE, HIV/AIDS PATIENT: My issue was -- with my parents was, how could you love me one day and then hate me the next?
LEMON: Ambrose and Reverend Stuart say it's typical for African- American families to shut out loved ones who are gay or HIV positive. Even though as of 2005, blacks accounted for 49 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases according to the CDC. African-American women are at highest risk of becoming infected. And 61 percent of young people under the age of 25 diagnosed with HIV/AIDS were black.
(on camera): Would you say it's at a crisis point in the African-American community?
STUART: Definitely. Definitely. And the church in the African- American community has to step up to the plate or it's going to get worse.
LEMON (voice over): More than 90 percent of people receiving services at AIDS Alliance are African-American. The organization receives monthly help from 32 area churches, but only one of those is black.
(on camera): This is not just taking a pill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not taking a pill, no. It's a far more involved process.
LEMON (voice over): For young people in general, not just blacks, the number of HIV/AIDS cases is growing. Twenty-four-year-old James McLarty Lopez (ph) stays alive with two painful injections each day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm injecting the water here.
LEMON (on camera): This is the drug?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Into the fusion, which is the powder.
LEMON (voice over): McLarty Lopez (ph) says his generation didn't witness the more widespread deaths in the 1980s and '90s before an effective treatment was readily available and now think they're invincible. A deadly misunderstanding that Reverend Stewart has made his mission to correct.
STUART: People do die of AIDS today. They don't have to die of HIV today.
LEMON: Don Lemon, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Good morning, everybody. From the CNN center in Atlanta on this Saturday, hope you're having a great one. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes. So glad you could be here. We are jam-packed with a bunch of major developing stories this morning. Up first here, the hostage crisis at Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office. You may have missed this one overnight. This was a developing story. Senator Clinton did talk about it late last night. We'll have the developments.
NGUYEN: Yeah, that drama is putting a spotlight on a major problem in this country and that is mental illness and the lack of affordable treatment options. We've got a reality check for you this hour.
HOLMES: Also our other major story this morning, four arrests in the killing of NFL superstar Sean Taylor. The suspects are in jail and have a video court appearance coming up in about an hour. We will take you there live on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
NGUYEN: But first up, Senator Hillary Clinton says she is relieved and grateful, this after a hostage drama at her presidential campaign office in New Hampshire ends peacefully.
HOLMES: And she spoke late last night after this thing ended. This morning the suspect behind bars. We want to go to Rochester now live to CNN's Jim Acosta who's on the story for us. Hello again to you, Jim.
ACOSTA: Good morning, T.J.
You know, the Clinton campaign says it is doubtful that the candidate will be making an appearance at this office here in Rochester today, because they say they don't want to appear that they are politicizing what happened here yesterday. So, in the meantime, for these campaign staffers who went through this terrible ordeal yesterday, they will be getting back to what they should be doing. That is politics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Wearing a fake bomb that was nothing more than road flares duct taped to his chest, Leeland Eisenberg surrendered to police, ending a tense hostage crisis that brought the race for the White House to a standstill. For more than five hours, Eisenberg, a 46-year-old with a history of mental illness, was holed up inside this Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire, threatening to blow up a handful of staffers, a child and himself.
At one point during the crisis, Eisenberg called CNN, complaining that he had been unable to seek treatment for his mental illness and added that he had gone to that campaign office to speak with the candidate directly. But police say involving the presidential hopeful was not an option. CHIEF DAVID DUBOIS, ROCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE POLICE: We decided not to introduce anyone from the campaign or the senator's office into the negotiation process.
ACOSTA: Eventually the hostages were released. The fake bomb was destroyed by police. And late in the evening, Senator Clinton flew to New Hampshire for a brief visit with the then released hostages and their families.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're immensely relieved that this has ended peacefully. To see the people who were directly held hostage and their families and to thank the New Hampshire professionals who made this day turn out as well as it did.
ACOSTA: Over at Eisenberg's mobile home community a few miles away, neighbors say they saw early warning signs of trouble ranging from alcohol abuse to loud arguments at the suspect's home.
GEORGE ISAACSON, NEIGHBOR: He would walk over to the filling station right up the street every day and always get either a 12-pack or something like that. This is every day.
ERIC CARLSON, NEIGHBOR: They hauled him away for domestic violence, yes. I don't know what happened. I was coming in from work and they were hauling him in the cruiser.
ACOSTA: On Eisenberg's front door, a note from his family saying they have no comment for now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And as for Leeland Eisenberg, he is in jail this morning. And as for this Clinton campaign office behind me, after everything that they went through yesterday, the doors are locked, the lights are off. It is very likely that much of this campaign staff today will be taking a much-needed breather. T.J.?
HOLMES: We know politics is hot and heavy right now. But, yeah, this is one reason, one day they can probably all use a break and deserve one. Jim Acosta for us there in Rochester, New Hampshire, we appreciate you. And of course, this hostage crisis highlighting the issue of mental health. How common are mental disorders and where can you find help? Our Josh Levs has some answers for us in the dot com desk coming your way in about 10 minutes.
NGUYEN: Four men are due in court in Lee County, Florida, in about an hour. They're facing murder charges in the death of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor. Twenty-year-old Venjahk Hunte, 17-year-old Eric Rivera Jr., 17-year-old Jason Scott Mitchell, and 18- year-old Charles Wardlow were arrested in connection with the killing in Miami. Our John Zarrella is in Ft. Myers covering this morning's proceedings and he joins us live. What are we expecting to see in court today, John?
ZARRELLA: Well, Betty, probably not a whole heck of a lot. The four young men spent the night in the Lee County jail and they will make their first appearance in about an hour from a video hook-up between the jail and the justice center here, the Lee County justice center, with a judge in the justice center, all four of them making that first appearance. Then we expect at some point they will be transferred to Miami to face the likely murder charges, all four of them.
They were picked up yesterday in the Ft. Myers area. They spent much of the day being questioned at the Florida department of law enforcement offices and ultimately one, perhaps more of them, confessed to the murder of Sean Taylor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Totally distraught, shocked, the mother of Jason Mitchell arrived to face the unthinkable -- her son is being charged along with three others in the murder of Washington Redskins football star Sean Taylor. Miami-Dade police say the four young men ranging in age from 17 to 20 came from Ft. Myers, Florida, across to Miami to burglarize the player's home.
ROBERT PARKER, MIAMI-DADE POLICE DIRECTOR: They were certainly not looking to go there and kill anyone. They were expecting a residence that was not occupied. So, murder or shooting someone was not their initial motive.
ZARRELLA: During a Friday night news conference, police said the suspects had previously visited the house but would not elaborate on the connection. Outside the headquarters of the Florida department of law enforcement in Ft. Myers, where the four had been questioned all day, reporters got glimpses of them in handcuffs and even watched as a court stenographer followed one of the suspects into the interview room.
PARKER: I'm just going to tell you that we have confessions within this investigation. I'm not going to tell you which ones confessed and which ones did not. We have more than one confession. I'll put it at that.
ZARRELLA: Police say they are looking into the possibility that at least one of them knew someone in Taylor's family. All four of the suspects are no strangers to the law with charges ranging from drug possession and sales to grand theft auto. Taylor was murdered in the early morning hours last Monday when he reportedly confronted his assailants at the door to his bedroom. He was shot once in the leg and died the next day from massive bleeding. The grandmother of suspect Jason Mitchell says she saw him the day of the shooting. You saw him Monday here, though, right?
MILLIE HENDRICKS, MITCHELL'S GRANDMOTHER: I saw him home Monday.
ZARRELLA: But you don't know about Sunday.
HENDRICKS: No, I do not. I don't know nothing about no Sunday. I saw him Monday.
ZARRELLA: Taylor's memorial service will be held on Monday in Miami, Taylor's hometown. The entire Washington Redskins football team, along with several thousand mourners, are expected to attend.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Now, these first appearances are generally very brief with the judge letting the defendants know what they face. Now, police would not say exactly what led them to the four individuals, tips they said, but would not elaborate on how the arrests went down. Betty?
NGUYEN: And as we get into this case, John, we learned a little bit earlier from one of the defendants' attorneys who said essentially, yeah, they went to the house but they weren't intent on killing anybody. Is that what you're hearing on your end?
ZARRELLA: That's exactly right. That's what police believe, that they went there to burglarize the house. They did not know that Sean Taylor was going to be there. Remember that Taylor -- the Redskins didn't even know he was going to be there. He had come to Miami to seek a second opinion on his injured knee. He hadn't even played in Redskins games for a couple of weeks, so that's why he was down in Miami. He apparently went there within a couple of days before he was shot and killed. Betty?
NGUYEN: He may have just surprised them as they were burglarizing the home.
ZARRELLA: Yes.
NGUYEN: You're going to be in the courtroom at 9:00 a.m. sharp when that hearing gets under way. I know we'll be talking with you shortly after that. Thanks, John. Talk to you soon.
HOLMES: Of course an important day today, world AIDS day 2007 and a huge concert just getting under way in Johannesburg, South Africa. This hour, it's the fifth year for this annual concert.
NGUYEN: It is huge, as you said, T.J.. Let me just give you a lineup here, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, the GooGoo Dolls, Ludacris. Those are just some of the artists expected to perform today. You want to keep it right here because we will be talking with some of those performers throughout the morning.
HOLMES: The face of AIDS has changed dramatically from the image most people had just a few years ago. We asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leading U.S. experts on AIDS for his opinion on this. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: The face of AIDS in the U.S. today is the young African-American woman who was infected by a partner who she did not know that that partner was infected and had no reason to believe or even means to protect herself. The face of AIDS is the young African-American man who's bisexual and because of the stigma associated with being gay superimposed upon the stigma associated with being infected, the person does not counsel nor appreciate what one needs to do to decrease or eliminate the risk of HIV.
So, it really has been transformed over the years to a situation where you have 12 percent of the population in the United States is African-American and among new infections, among men close to 50 percent of the infections are in African-American men and among women, over 60 percent of the new infections are among African-American women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: That is staggering, over 60 percent of the new infections.
HOLMES: Scary, scary words there. That's the reality from Dr. Fauci. And that entire interview you can find at cnn.com, but the numbers are staggering. They are disturbing and certainly for the African-American community, there's been some scary stuff. We talk about this AIDS quilt. I'm going to be going out. 10:00 we'll be live at the location where they actually keep it here in Atlanta, Georgia.
But 47,000 of those panels as you see there, they represent some 91,000 names, people who are memorialized by this quilt. Would you believe 91,000 people that have died of AIDS here memorialized in this quilt, only a few hundred are black on this quilt, so memorialized on this quilt.
NGUYEN: Really and when you look at the numbers, I mean it just doesn't add up.
HOLMES: It doesn't add up. But we are going to get in that too with the executive director, the person who manages the quilt project, the names project, as it's called, the AIDS memorial quilt, more commonly known as but the quilt itself is fascinating, an amazing thing. We were talking about it earlier, we can't believe how huge it is, that you can't get it together in one place anymore.
NGUYEN: When you hear numbers about AIDS and how it's spread worldwide and how many millions are affected and you see 47,000, it doesn't really register until you actually physically see this quilt. It is so big that they can't put it in one place.
HOLMES: May not be able to do it ever again. It was done in 1996 the last time at the national mall in DC, but it may never happen again.
NGUYEN: You'll be there at 10:00 a.m.
HOLMES: We'll be there starting at 10:00, yes.
NGUYEN: We'll be looking forward to that. In the meantime, let's get a check of the weather for you with Reynolds Wolf. He's in the severe weather center. What are you watching today?
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: What a day in store for us. Thank you, Reynolds.
Listen to this, folks. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has more harsh words for the United States.
HOLMES: He's also got some more harsh words for President Bush. He's even got some harsh words for Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, not me in particular.
HOLMES: For CNN, all of us really here at CNN. We'll tell you what he's saying this time around. What is Josh Levs saying this time around? Good morning, Josh.
LEVS: Looking forward to that. After the events yesterday at Clinton campaign offices in New Hampshire, we today are taking a look at how common mental disorders are in America. That's coming up right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Some other stories making news. Here's our quick hits for you today.
HOLMES: And looking for some answers. In Chicago, investigators trying to figure out why an Amtrak train and a freight train ended on the same track at the same time. It ain't supposed to happen. Dozens of people were hurt in yesterday's collision, five of them hurt seriously. Investigators hope to get clues from an event recorder. That's a similar device to those flight recorders that are on airplanes.
NGUYEN: And this is definitely making news. Venezuelan's President railing on CNN. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT HUGE CHAVEZ, VENEZUELA (through translator): CNN has been instigating an assassination, and I am going to sue them. Of course I am going to sue them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Hear that? He's going to sue CNN, yep. And he made those comments at a rally supporting changes to the constitution that could do away with term limits and keep him in power for life. Venezuelans vote on the referendum tomorrow. Chavez is accusing CNN in particular of exaggerating the strength of the opposition and he is threatening not only to sue us, but to expel CNN journalists. You know how that goes.
HOLMES: We will see you in court there, President Chavez.
NGUYEN: Them there's fighting words, huh?
HOLMES: I can't take on Hugo Chavez. I should probably stop.
NGUYEN: You probably should before we get in trouble.
All right, the dramatic hostage crisis. We want to talk about that at the Clinton presidential campaign headquarters in Rochester, New Hampshire. That has thrust the state of mental health into the spotlight.
HOLMES: Our Josh Levs at the dot-com desk looking into this for us. Good morning to you again.
LEVS: Good morning to you, guys and obviously we don't want to paint too broad a brush here. Let's emphasize that the incident yesterday at Clinton's offices involved someone with a much more extreme case than you'll hear about in general. But government statistics do show that mental disorders are very common worldwide and in the United States. About one in four adults has some sort of diagnosable mental disorder, mostly depression.
About 6 percent, that's one out of every 17 people in America, has at least one mental disorder that's been ranked as serious. Then we found this. Where would you think is the best state to get help? There's a Web site about that. Mentalhealthamerica.net has a list of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It says the best place to get help for mental issues, South Dakota, and the worst is Utah. We looked for New Hampshire on there after what happened yesterday. That's listed at 20.
Also another interesting site we found here is realmentalhealth.com. It's actually a social networking site. It's like Facebook or MySpace but it's for people with mental health issues. It's a place for them to talk with each other, share tips and information and guys, basically to find a sympathetic ear for everything that they are going through.
So, just some broad information. Put it in context for you guys. There are a lot of mental disorders in America, but clearly what we saw yesterday, one of the much more extreme cases.
NGUYEN: No doubt. Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: You got it.
NGUYEN: Let's talk about AIDS Now. It's no longer an automatic death sentence.
HOLMES: We'll actually hear from one woman who is living with AIDS and living a very full life.
NGUYEN: CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is also talking about AIDS this morning. Here's a preview of that.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, guys. World AIDS day is being marked this weekend, but are Americans ignoring the dangers of this disease? We're going to give you a global reality check. Plus, medical mistakes -- how you can avoid becoming a victim. We'll be looking at ways, as well, to survive the holidays from seasonal depression to toxic toys. All that and more on "HOUSE CALL" at 8:30.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. So, the number of people living with HIV keeps growing each year. Take a look at this. We've got some numbers actually that we're going to be telling you about throughout the morning. But this magazine cover right here, that's Regan Hofmann, the editor in chief of "Poz" magazine, one of the leading magazines for those living with AIDS in the United States and she knows all about it. She appeared on the cover last April when she revealed she is HIV positive. Regan Hofmann joins us now from New York. Thanks for being with us today on this important day.
REGAN HOFMANN, POZ MAGAZINE: Thanks, Betty. How are you?
NGUYEN: I'm doing well. I want to talk about the fact you did finally appear on the cover of that magazine, but you were diagnosed over a decade ago. Why did you wait until last year to come out publicly?
HOFMANN: Betty, I was afraid of the stigma. I was afraid of what would happen when I told people that I was HIV positive. It took me 10 years to figure out that I hadn't done anything wrong and I didn't need to be ashamed to have a retrovirus.
NGUYEN: You talk about the stigma and I think there are a lot of stereotypes out there about people with AIDS. Let me just look at your demographic here. You're single, white, Ivy League graduate when you were diagnosed. Are you hoping that by putting your face out there, you are showing that you don't have to be ashamed of it and it affects all types of people.
HOFMANN: Yeah. AIDS absolutely has no idea whether you're white or black, gay or straight, young or old. It's an equal opportunity offender. So, I thought it would be very important for people to realize that it can and does happen to everybody. That's why the numbers are rising in America because people don't perceive themselves to be at risk and that's why people don't get tested because they don't believe that they could have been exposed to HIV, but anybody who ever had unprotected sex once could have been exposed to HIV.
NGUYEN: I think you bring up a very important point because I remember growing up, the AIDS epidemic, it was everywhere. People talked about it. People were very afraid of it and people were taking a lot of precautions because you were seeing people die of it daily. Today we're not talking about it as much.
HOFMANN: Right.
NGUYEN: Why is that? Why isn't the education out there?
HOFMANN: We focus internationally on AIDS. Our focus is over the water. I think it's because we don't want to believe that it could be something that we have to consider. You know, I had the same experience myself in the mid '80s. I was terrified of AIDS. By the mid '90s, I was more worried about getting pregnant than contracting HIV. So I think it's a message as we see the numbers rise and particularly among young people.
Fifty percent of all new infections are among people under the age of 25. We need to educate a whole other generation of people that didn't grow up with the history that some of us have. I think we've almost done too good a job of making this disease appear as a manageable, chronic condition. It's still a disease you do not want to get.
NGUYEN: We look at people like you. We look at people like Magic Johnson and see that you're living for over a decade with this disease and you're making it happen. You're living a quality life.
HOFMANN: Right.
NGUYEN: But when we talk about the numbers, you just mentioned, 50 percent of the people under the age of 24, especially when we talk about statistics, 50 percent of them are showing that there's an increase in AIDS among those folks. What are the numbers? Because I understand the CDC is even revising its numbers, as well, because it is so high.
HOFMANN: Yeah. You know, the other thing that's important to point out is that of the people living with the disease in this country, 25 percent of them don't know that they have it, you know? And I think that increasingly -- I think one of the biggest misperceptions is that people think that people with AIDS look a certain way or might even appear sick. But, in fact, it takes a very long time often for the disease to manifest itself in the body. So, just looking at someone is not a good way to tell whether or not they're HIV positive.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. And there are certain areas where we're seeing a dramatic rise in the south, in the nation's capital, and also when it comes to minority groups, as well. Talk to me about that.
HOFMANN: You know, Betty, when I came to "Poz" magazine, I was so afraid that I was not truly representative of the new face of AIDS, but I can tell you that there are women, a lot of women, especially African-American women, especially young African-American women, around the country who reach out to us on a daily basis. And they're in an isolated state. The stigma keeps people from accessing care and treatment and keeps people from learning the basic facts about AIDS.
I mean, in 2007, the fact that people still misperceive that you can get this through casual contact I think speaks to the fact that we are not doing a good job educating our country. We're not doing a good job educating our young people. And we really need to focus on a different approach and re-raise awareness. There have never been more people living with AIDS in America in the history of this epidemic and yet we tend to consider it under control, and that's a giant misperception.
NGUYEN: You consider it treatable.
HOFMANN: Yeah. NGUYEN: People don't fear it as much. But it is on the rise and we need to be aware. Thank you for your time today. We do appreciate it, Regan.
HOFMANN: Thank you so much.
NGUYEN: We've been talking about this AIDS quilt as well this morning and my partner up here is going to see that up close today.
HOLMES: Everybody needs to see this thing up close. In our 10:00 hour, we're going to be showing the quilt where it's being stored here in Atlanta. People don't realize it's so huge that you really can't put it together in one place anymore.
NGUYEN: 47,000?
HOLMES: 47,000 panels of this thing, 91,000 people memorialized on this particular quilt. You've got to see this thing. We'll be there at 10:00, give you some coverage of that, but stick around. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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