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CNN Saturday Morning News

NIU Shooting Details; Campaign News Without the Spin; Street Racing Deaths

Aired February 16, 2008 - 09:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN, ANCHOR (voice-over): An Illinois community comes together to remember those killed in Thursday's campus massacre. While investigators still trying to figure out why it happened. We are live in Dekalb, Illinois.

Also --

ARWA DAMON, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: All these parents know is hardship. None of their children can walk, they've been carried their entire lives. But that is about to change.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN, ANCHOR: OK. We're going to tell you how and what you can do to impact these lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Also, unspinning the spin on the campaign trail. We're going to take a closer look at what the candidates say and what they actually mean because that can be different. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, good morning, everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.

HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Holmes, glad you could all be here this morning. Unfortunately, we had to start with this story what we get you caught up on. New to us this morning. A horrible scene in Prince George's County, Maryland. Police say seven people were killed by a car that apparently plowed into a crowd that was watching a straight race overnight. Brittany Morehouse of our affiliate WUSA is live on the scene for us. And Brittany, please get us caught up.

BRITTANY MOREHOUSE, WUSA, CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are in Prince George's County, Maryland on Indian Head Highway. That's ten miles south of Washington, D.C.. Police say this happened around 3:30 in the morning. They're calling it a drag racing incident. But we're getting conflicting reports from different witnesses. There was one woman I spoke with who was here with her father and her daughter. She actually threw her daughter out of the way when the car came by. And she unfortunately was not able to save her father's life. She says that the race was over when a separate car came up, traveling north on this highway and lost control, ran into the crowd.

Again, we have seven people dead, four more people injured, flown to area hospital in serious condition here this morning. A lot of people are out here looking to find out more information about their loved ones, waiting to hear about who made it and who didn't, and a lot of emotion here this morning. You have police on the scene, they're going to be reconstructing the scene for a good while longer and this highway will be closed for the rest of the afternoon.

HOLMES: And Brittany, something that would catch folks' attention, we talked about this earlier with you, that these drag races, these street races kind of have been an issue. You have covered some these stories, plenty of these before. But mentioning about the crowd, it's perplexing to think that a mother and her child and a father? It sounds like a family affair almost that somebody would get together for these street races. Is that what happened? People attend these things like that. That you can take your child to one of these things?

MOREHOUSE: From what we're hearing, that is exactly what happened. You have -- actually that woman was here with two uncles and a brother and apparently her father loves these races. So yes, it is widely accepted around here, although police do not accept it. They are certainly going to be investigating that after this incident.

HOLMES: They love these races. Illegal street races. It's perplexing. Brittany Morehouse of our affiliate WUSA with a horrible story. Brittany, we appreciate you this morning.

NGUYEN: The campus of Northern Illinois University is grieving today. Yesterday several students held a vigil remembering those who were killed or hurt in Thursday's attack. Police say they have spoken with Stephen Kazmierczak's girlfriend and she is cooperating. Now, Stephen Kazmierczak's sister posted this statement on her front door saying, "...we are both shocked and saddened. In addition to the loss of innocent lives. Steven was a member of our family. We are grieving his loss as well as the loss of life resulting from his actions..."

HOLMES: And those lives lost for those victims who had not even reached her 21st birthday. Another victim was in her 30s. We now know who they are, those that were killed in the Northern Illinois University shootings. Daniel Parmenter, one of them Catalina Garcia, Gayle Dubowski. They were all 20 years old. Parmenter was from Westchester. Garcia was from Cicero, Illinois. Dubowski lived in Carol stream, Illinois. Ryanne Mace was the youngest, 19 years old. She was from Carpentersville. The fifth victim is 32-year-old Juliana Gehant of Mendota, Illinois.

NGUYEN: CNN's Don Lemon is in the campus of Northern Illinois University. He has been speaking with the students about just the tragedy and all that they have lost. And last night was really touching as many of them came together. Although, Don, I understand that a lot of the students have left the campus?

DON LEMON, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They have left the campus and you know, T.J. mentioned that Juliana Gehant. We're going to talk a little bit more about her. Because we spoke with her friends yesterday. But Betty, you can imagine. This is the "Rockford Register," Rockford is like about 45 miles from here. Here is what it says this morning, "Heartbroken" and someone just really tearing up on front, in front actually of this very crosses that we're standing in front of. As you said, the folks are heart broken here and that's what the paper showed. I'm going to look around. We couldn't go up here earlier because several other networks were doing their live shots. We're going to go up.

You guys also mentioned Ryanne Mace, 19-year-old, the youngest victim. Her family released a statement this morning saying "she was ten times better than the best of us" and as I imagine all of the family members are feeling about their family members.

But listen, Daniel Parmenter -- there's a Husky's hat up here. So, obviously a big husky's fan and the mascot here. Apparently, he was part of Pi Kappa Alpha. There's a little Husky stuff animal here, a dog, roses and then also candles. Actually, still burning.

We've also been watching some people come up here this morning and they had been praying in front of these crosses and taking pictures as well and just walking over and talking to us. And you know, usually when we go to these scenes, people don't want to talk and they don't want to see the media. Well, everyone has been very open here. It is the Midwest and they have that Midwestern sensibility about them. Everyone very open and very nice.

So, all the crosses here. Five crosses with names on them, for all the victims and then one here without a name and it's actually turned backwards. It's for the 27-year-old shooter as well. So, they are remembering that shooter as well. And obviously the pain he was going through. We're talking about Juliana Gehant, the 32-year-old, she was really an army vet who's now in the reserve, had served in active duty, now in the reserves. And her friends came up to us. They were doing this memorial just for her yesterday over by Algeld Hall, which is back that way, a little bit. They were having a little memorial for her and they came over and they talked to us while we were live on the air. We wanted to share some of that to you. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN GALAN, NIU STUDENT: It's a very deep loss because she was such a lovely and beautiful person. We're all going to miss her, everyone in the veteran's club and all of our friends and families and her family. The loss that we're feeling and the senseless tragedy that this is, is heart wrenching and mind-blowing. Because we loved her, you know, as much as we knew her and like this picture here is from a toga party that we had at J.D.'s house and everyone that was there remembers it as one of the best nights we've had in our college experience. A lot of that in part because of the joy and the entertainment that Juliana brought with her, you know, everywhere she went. She was like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day and we're all going to miss her a whole lot. So the loss is immense.

LEMON: Danielle, if she's listening down from heaven now what, do you want to say to her?

DANIELLE ADAME, NIU STUDENT: Just that she's touched our lives in a way that we'll remember her for the rest of our life and even if it was only a short time that we knew her, she'll be missed greatly and her family and friends and other friends are in our thoughts and prayers.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

LEMON: Friends and loved ones of 32-year-old Julianna Gehant and all the other victims here Daniel Parmenter, Ryanne Mace, Catalina Garcia, Gayle Dubowski and of course, the shooter 27-year-old Stephen Kazmierczak. There is a note here Betty that says we will never forget 2-14-2008, rest in peace, Huskies. And that's a sentiment that's happening here on the campus at NIU. Back to you.

NGUYEN: Yes. They are all trying to come together and get through this the best they can. Don Lemon joining us live from the campus. Thank you, Don.

HOLMES: We will now turn to some politics and the battle for Wisconsin, an important contest leading up to the Texas and Ohio contests coming up on March 4th. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are campaigning across Wisconsin today. The primary there coming up on Tuesday. 74 delegates are at stake for the democrats. Also on Tuesday, Hawaii holds its caucuses and in a brilliant move, Chelsea Clinton volunteered to go campaign for her mother in Hawaii.

NGUYEN: Not a bad assignment, huh? Well the republicans are largely quiet today but John McCain did speak at a Reagan Day dinner in Milwaukee last night. Challenger Mike Huckabee is speaking to a youth group today, that's in the Cayman Islands. Hawaii, Cayman Islands. Not bad places to be on a weekend. Huckabee giving a paid speech today. But he is expected back in Wisconsin tomorrow and as you noted T.J., probably with a tan.

HOLMES: He'll have a tan. All right. Well, remember folks also "Ballot Bowl" back this weekend. We'll know if any of our people will be in Hawaii or the Cayman Islands covering it.

NGUYEN: Doubt it.

HOLMES: Yes, we doubt it. But yes, this is a your chance to hear the candidates unfiltered, in their own words. CNN's "Ballot Bowl" your way today at 2:00 Eastern time. And you can hear the democratic candidates talking about the issues at the CNN-Univision debate coming Thursday night. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama facing off in Austin, Texas at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

NGUYEN: An old stomping ground there. Well, hey, giving the gift of hope for Iraqi children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD BLAUSER, WHEELCHAIRS FOR IRAQI KIDS: We have so many children out in the city disabled. The ones who can get around are following their friends, dragging themselves on the ground. It's heart breaking to see.

NGUYEN: We will tell you how one man is doing and what is he is actually doing to help. Stay with us. REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: And we have got a raw spell of weather already this morning. We've already had some tornado warnings. You should see some later on today. All because of this big system, a promise of moderate to severe storms, some large hail, damaging winds and of course, as I mentioned, those tornadoes. All ahead, coming up right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Topping the news this hour, Steve Fossett is dead. Well, that's what a Chicago judge has now declared. The millionaire adventurer has been missing for five months and now that he has been declared dead, his family can settle his estate. Fossett was the first to fly solo around the world in a hot air balloon. He was last seen in September flying his single engine plane and some claim he crashed in the Sierra Nevadas. But the wreckage still has not been found.

President Bush beginning his five-nation visit to Africa. Right now, he's headed to Tanzania after a brief stop in Benin. He was given a medal by that country's president. The trip is focuses on President Bush's effort to help fight AIDS in Africa but is also facing questions about Darfur and post election violence in Kenya.

On the domestic front for the president, President Bush says your security could be at risk when a controversial eavesdropping law expires tonight. House Democrats accused the president of fear mongering. At issue here a bill that makes it easier to spy on foreign calls and e-mails that pass through the U.S. The President says it's essential for uncovering terrorist plots.

Well, nice story we could bring to you this morning. A chance for a better life for many disabled Iraqi children.

NGUYEN: Yes. They're getting a chance to be more independent, move around from here to there on their own and that's important. It's also thanks to a campaign started by one compassionate man. CNN's Arwa Damon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN, CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All these parents know is hardship. None of their children can walk, they have been carried their entire lives. But that is about to change. Largely thanks to the efforts of this man, Brad Blauser, founder of "Wheelchairs for Iraqi kids."

BRAD BLAUSER, WHEELCHAIRS FOR IRAQI KIDS: The wheelchairs keep the children off of the ground, and in a city like Baghdad it's a very important thing concerning health, health matters. It will actually extend the life of the child because the child is in a more comfortable environment.

DAMON: These disabled Iraqi kids get a shot at a better life thanks to Blauser and the U.S. military and the group started by Tamitha Alali which finds the children. Children like 5-year-old Kufran and Kujib. Whenever she tries to walk, she just falls, her father, Hayad, says. All the other kids would laugh at her. He's not sure what's wrong with her. Doctors in Iraq simply said they couldn't help. But hopefully, this will. A chair that adjusts to grow with her. Halid can barely talk when he asked about his kids. Doctors told us all three have varying degrees of polio. 7-year-old Mariam can barely move. They simply don't know what to do other than love their children.

There are no programs here to teach the families how to deal with their children's disabilities, Tamira explains. There's no support system. Blauser started "Wheelchairs for kids" in 2005. He's a civilian contractor here and was in Mosul and asked a combat medic friend what more he could do.

He surprised me with his answer. He said, look for pediatric wheelchairs. There are so many children out in the city, disabled. The ones who can get around are following their friends, dragging themselves on the ground, which is heartbreaking to see.

DAMON: Blauser took off the challenge. Partnering with the group. "Reach out and care" and using donations to buy the chairs for about $300 each, delivering nearly 350 so far. He shows us one of his favorite photos, taken during a delivery in northern Iraq.

BLAUSER: We watched them come toward us and people ran forward to take the boy from the man's arms. The man pulled back and he told him no. I've been carrying this child all his life. I can carry him the last hundred meters so he can received his wheelchair.

DAMON: Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: What a great thing to be doing there.

HOLMES: Well, you too can take action and try to make a difference in somebody's life.

NGUYEN: Yes, you can. Just log on to impactyourworld@cnn.com. You can also see more of our "Impact your world" stories there.

HOLMES: Also this morning, need to talk about credit card dirty tricks. Before you say charge it, consider this, if your next payment is late even by a single day, your interest rate could go up.

NGUYEN: That is wild. Stay tuned for that plus Gerri Willis is straight ahead with tips on how to protect yourself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, let's talk about your credit for just a second here. In this troubled economy, you may be charging more on your credit card. But you need to know one late payment and your credit card company can actually up your interest rate. Here now is CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis. GERRI WILLIS, CNN, PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Hi, T.J., this past week Representative Carolyn Maloney from New York introduced legislation against unfair credit card practices. Now the bill, called the "credit cardholders bill of rights" would require credit card issuers to give 45 days notice before any rate increase.

Well, the bill still has to make its way through the House and Senate, so it could be a while before you see any change to your statement. But understand that credit card companies can raise your rates at any time for any reason, even if the economy is sour. Credit card issuers are jacking interest rates up to 30% or even higher with people of good credit, simply because their payment was late by a day. So, how do you get that rate lowered?

Well, first off, call the credit card company and ask if you can get your rate changed back to that original rate. If you have been a good customer, this could work. Now, if you're denied, make sure to ask if you're able to get your original rate back if you make on time payments for the next six months. You can also ask the credit card company to either freeze your rate below the default rate while you pay off the balance. Now, some cards will let you do that but typically, you won't be able to use the card after that.

If you're looking to transfer the balance to another card, keep your eye on the balance transfer fee. These fees have gone up 300% to 400% in the past year alone. You will want to look for offers that are capped at $50 to $75. Coming up at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, will "Project Lifeline" really be a lifeline for struggling homeowners? Then, forget rebate checks to stimulate the economy, how about debit cards? Our very own, Glenn Beck stops by to explain and coupled with debt, they often go hand in hand. We'll tell you how to avoid the love-debt triangle. That's "Open House" at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. T.J..

HOLMES: All right. Gerri Willis, thank you so much.

NGUYEN: Now, we're going to tell you now how to avoid some of that severe weather outside today. Reynolds Wolf has been watching it. Man, Texas is going to get hit with some pretty strong storms?

WOLF: Oh, no question about it. They already have had some rough weather, not as bad as say Louisiana where this morning, they've already had a few tornado warnings. Right now, no warnings in effect but it is Texas that's taking the full brunt of it and a variety of precipitation too this morning. Up here, Amarillo back to Adrian, even as far as east as Shamrock, you have a combination of freezing rain as well as a few scattered thunderstorms. Southward to Childress and back over to Dallas, a few embedded storms here and there. Ardmore, you have had some rain this morning too. And as far south, you can see scattered showers beginning to develop especially near parts of i-10 and near Bridgeport. What we're going to be seeing later on today is more of that moisture just streaming into the lone star state. That combined with that frontal boundary, the mid level winds are going to be very strong and then the jet stream, all coming together to create a severe weather scenario which could give us some moderate to severe storms. Some tornadoes certainly a possibility. large hail, damaging winds, maybe even some flash flooding. A scenario that we're going to watch very carefully throughout the rest of the day. Let's send it back to you.

NGUYEN: OK. Reynolds, we do thank you.

WOLF: You bet.

HOLMES: Well, it is a time for us to dry out some facts that are getting washed in the campaign spin cycle.

NGUYEN: We're going to look at the exchange over legislation and talk about Josh Levs and all of that. Hey, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys. You know, what we're going to do coming up in a few minutes, there's been this back and forth between the campaigns, there always is. And one of them is over this key piece of legislation, I kind of want to push everything aside, get through the point for you. We'll have that right here CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. In politics, facts - you need them. Take a back seat.

LEVS: It's going crazy.

HOLMES: Yes, spin is what it's all about and it's all about perception.

NGUYEN: Yes, but you know what here at CNN, we don't play that spin game. So Josh Levs is here to unravel all that spin for us. What are they really saying?

LEVS: I know and I want to try something here because I take a look at the campaign every day and I get all their statements, literally. And you can imagine, how crazy it will drive you. If you know all the facts and see what the campaigns are saying. There's one big thing they're fixating on right now. So, I want to try to talk you through one issue and show you how this works. This began a couple of weeks ago with a front page Sunday story in the "New York Times," which is a big deal.

On the front page story, it's about a piece of legislation Barack Obama had worked on involving a nuclear regulation. And in that, they reported, as we are seeing right here, that he told voters that he got a nuclear bill passed. But as the article pointed out, and this is true, he actually didn't. Nothing ever went through the House or the Senate, nothing has actually passed, something got through a committee, but nothing was ever actually ever passed through Senate or through Congress. So this as you can imagine has now become an issue on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton sometimes pointing to this.

And the "New York Times" didn't say anything why he told voters this. So, you've got Hillary Clinton jumping on this things. Hey, he said he passed legislation when he didn't really. Now, he's striking back on his website. He's saying, you know what, Hillary Clinton praised this for getting passed back when it made it through the committee. Hillary Clinton talked about this, this is what he is saying, she praised its passage. If you follow this, if you're looking into this, you're going to see it everywhere because they're both talking about it. The reality at the core of this, she never actually did talk about that bill being passed. She never said that. That's something inside the Senate where it made it through the committee.

NGUYEN: Didn't he say that she had it on her website as well?

LEVS: Yes, a while they tried that spin. What she actually had on her website as a senator was an announcement that it made it through a committee. She never told any voter that it passed, ever.

NGUYEN: That's how I read it.

LEVS: Exactly.

NGUYEN: That's how it seems like.

LEVS: How everyone reads it. She praised its passage but she didn't. She said it made through committee. Reality at the core of it, he said something passed but in that case, it never made it through the House or the Senate.

NGUYEN: Thanks for sorting that one out.

HOLMES: If we had time for a follow-up question, it would be huh? What did you just say Josh?

LEVS: Watch out for those, that's all I'm telling you.

HOLMES: All right. We appreciate it.

NGUYEN: Thanks, Josh.

HOLMES: And we're going to stay on the campaign trail the next hour when we take a look at the so-called black-brown divide among democratic voters.

NGUYEN: But first, "Open House" with Gerri Willis starts right now.

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