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CNN Saturday Morning News

Big Game Without Paterno; Crowd at Top of GOP Presidential Field; Kidnapped MLB Player Wilson Ramos Now Free; President in Hawaii on Business; Avoiding Financial Scams

Aired November 12, 2011 - 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: Top of the hour here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Hello to you all.

In just a few hours, something we have not seen in 46 years is going to happen -- the Penn State football team will play a game without Joe Paterno as head coach. Security is stepped up as 100,000 are set to gather for the first game since the sex abuse scandal shocked the campus.

Also, President Obama arrived in Hawaii just a short time ago. But make no mistake, this is not a vacation.

This is November 12th on the CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Seven a.m. here in Atlanta, Georgia, 6:00 a.m. in Fayetteville, Arkansas, wherever you may be, we are glad you are right here. I'm T.J. Holmes.

Let's start this morning on the campus of Penn State University. Students came out, thousands of them, last night for a candlelight vigil to support the victims of a sex abuse scandal. It's the same place where students rioted in support of the fired football coach, Joe Paterno, just two days ago.

Paterno is talking through his son. His son put out a statement saying, in part, quote, "My father is experiencing a range of powerful emotions. He is absolutely distraught over what happened to the children and their families. He also wants very much to speak publicly and answer questions. At this stage, however, he has no choice but to be patient and defer to the legal process."

He cooperated fully with the grand jury and he will continue to cooperate with the investigation as we move forward.

He also said the family is not going to be talking anymore.

Meanwhile, Penn State's new president says he'll appoint an ethics officer to report directly to him. Rodney Erickson is the interim president now. He replaced Graham Spanier who was fired this week for his handling of the scandal.

Also, assistant football coach, Mike McQueary, is now on administrative leave. He is the one who reported the alleged sexual abuse incident to Paterno back in 2002. The school says McQueary has been receiving multiple threats. Also back on campus, the game -- yes, the game will go on today. It's happening just five hours from now, Penn State playing Nebraska in their final home game of the year. Students are being encouraged to stage what they're calling a blue-out.

Mike Galanos is there for us.

Mike, hello to you once again.

What can we expect in the stadium? They do something traditionally there at the home games, a white-out. But why a blue-out today?

MIKE GALANOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A couple reasons. A blue-out, I mean, that is the home jersey. They're going to be wearing their home blues. But the blue -- color blue is a color for child abuse to commemorate child abuse victims. Because blue is the color of bruises, and often these bruises are neglected. So, that is one of the messages throughout this.

And it really dovetails with what I saw last night at a candlelight vigil, T.J., into such a different scene. Old main building there, Penn State campus, that's where really the mayhem began. Last night, it's where a solemn candlelight vigil took place. These students wanted to put the victims first, send a brand new message from State College.

Speaking of messages, a Penn State -- a guy was a superstar playing under Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky. I'm talking about former line backer, LaVar Arrington. He addressed the crowd, very emotional as he spoke about what they need to do. Come together and again send a new message as we look out for each other.

Let's listen to former Penn State star LaVar Arrington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAVAR ARRINGTON, FMR. PSU PLAYER FOR PATERNO, SANDUSKY: This is a call. This is -- it's our time, and it's our duty. This serves as the ultimate wake-up call. If this isn't enough to wake us up and get motivated, and look at one another and be a protector of one another, if this isn't a good enough wake-up call, then I don't know what is.

Leave here tonight with a resolve and an understanding that you possess the power to change things. And I will be there with you. We should all be here with one another because, you know what? We are --

CROWD: Penn State.

ARRINGTON: Love you guys, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALANOS: There it is. And that's the chant they do at a game, "We are Penn State." Well, it was very solemn there. And that was the mood. And, T.J., one other thing about LaVar Arrington, he was watching the coverage as everything broke loose, Joe Paterno let go. And he said that he's been taught to hate what somebody does, but pray for them, but he said concerning Jerry Sandusky and the allegations, he said that's the closest he's come to hating someone.

And this is a guy who played for Sandusky way back in the glory days in the late '90s for him.

HOLMES: All right. Mike Galanos for us there on campus. Mike, we're going to be checking in with you throughout the morning. Thanks so much.

All right. Five minutes past the hour now. We turn to politics and what some are saying is more and more becoming a wide-open race for the Republican presidential nomination.

As our Paul Steinhauser now reports, there's no clear-cut leader, the Iowa caucus is just around the corner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Hey. Good morning, T.J.

You know, with just over seven weeks until the first votes in the primary and caucus season, new polls indicate there's a crowd at the top of the field.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is a wide-open race.

STEINHAUSER: And Newt Gingrich, you know, he has a point. Check out this new national survey from McClatchy-Marist. The former House speaker is just four points behind Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. But when you take into account the survey sampling error, guess what, Gingrich and the former Massachusetts governor are basically all tied.

And a new CBS poll indicates a three-way battle for the top spot between businessman Herman Cain, Gingrich and Romney.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's this funny thing about democracy, which is you have competition. It might be easier for me if I didn't, but I do have competition. And I will face other people who will do well.

STEINHAUSER: Another takeaway from both polls, Republicans haven't made up their minds. Nearly one-fifth of them in each survey say they're still undecided when it comes to which candidate they're backing.

GINGRICH: I think the American people are looking, asking questions, thinking about it. I think it will stay wide open, you know ,until January.

STEINHAUSER: While Cain is right up there at the top, if you dig deeper, the polls indicate that sexual harassment allegations he is facing and denying, maybe starting to hurt as his support among Republican women appears to be dropping.

Tonight, all the major candidates face off on a same stage in a debate in South Carolina, that focuses on foreign policy and national security.

The candidates will tangle again in a week and a half at a CNN debate right here in Washington -- T.J.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Thanks to our Paul Steinhauser. Seven minutes past the hour now.

Let's go across the country, patience seems to be wearing thin for "Occupy" protesters in some communities.

In Oakland, California, the city began handing out eviction notices where demonstrators, after Thursday's fatal shooting near the "Occupy" encampment. Police and the protesters say the shooting was not related to the "occupy" movement. Still, city leaders are worried about safety at the camp.

Now, the local police union also has tried to encourage the "Occupy" protesters to leave that camp, putting out a statement saying, quote, "The 'Occupy Oakland' protest, now 30 days old, is taking our police officers out of Oakland neighborhoods and away from protecting the citizens of Oakland. It is time for us to stop directing all of our efforts at the policing of the small enclave of 'Occupy Oakland' and get back to our job of protecting the citizens of Oakland and the neighborhoods where our residents live."

Similar situation in St. Louis where remaining protesters are defying the mayor's Friday 3:00 p.m. deadline to leave the downtown park.

Also in New York, small business owners and local residents are so fed up with the protesters that they are planning now a counter-protest of their own on Monday.

Eight minutes past the hour.

And President Obama landed in Hawaii just a couple hours ago. He is there for the World Trade Summit, APEC. Also on the agenda, one-on- one meetings with the Russian and Chinese presidents. We'll have more on the president's trip in just a bit.

Also part of the president's trip, while he was making his way out to Hawaii, he stopped in San Diego, took in a basketball game on the deck of an aircraft carrier. One of the coolest things you'll see. We'll have more on what the president is up to.

And the Major League Baseball player kidnapped in Venezuela is free and doing just fine, at least that's according to Venezuelan state television. Wilson Ramos who plays for the Washington Nationals was found by security forces about 60 miles from where he was kidnapped. Armed men stormed his home and took him on Wednesday. The kidnappers never made ransom demands and those kidnappers are still on the loose.

Let us say good morning to our Reynolds Wolf now. I see him over there.

And, Reynolds, I've been saying, I don't think I'm overselling this. Maybe you tell me if I am. This is one of the coolest sporting events I've ever seen.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is pretty incredible and really is unremarkable.

It's -- you know, I know they've done all kinds of strange things around the country. Some, in fact, involving Michigan State. They actually had a hockey game actually between Michigan State and Michigan at the football stadium. So, it's not usually. I'd love to see them try to do a football game on the deck of a carrier.

HOLMES: An aircraft carrier. You know what? Maybe that's the next thing to do. But this was just cool. We're going to have more and show you the pictures and the president there in just a moment. But, again, a game on the aircraft carrier.

But hello to you. What are you keeping an eye on today?

WOLF: Well, we are looking at the weather that was cooperating in San Diego, a little bit further to the north this morning in Los Angeles this morning. The story is all rain.

But in the Rocky Mountain, I'm talking about a combination of heavy snowfall and tropical storm-force winds. Some winds topping 60 miles an hour. It's going to be rough times up there. A lot of snow and could be brutal with white-out conditions along parts of I-70.

More on that coming up in a few moments. We'll see you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Twelve minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Good morning to you once again.

San Diego hosted one of the coolest events you will see, coolest sporting event last night. The USS Carl Vinson you're seeing there was converted. They put a basketball court on, put some seats on it. They got a few thousand, what was it, somewhere 6,000, 7,000, 8,000 --

WOLF: I believe 8,000.

HOLMES: Eight thousand last night. But show you the video. North Carolina and Michigan State, two-storied programs.

This is the president attending. Again, this is the USS Carl Vinson. They turned it into a basketball court. You got two of the most storied programs in the country. And two of the most storied coaches in the country coaching these two teams.

But this was all -- yes, it was a basketball game. But this was really a Veterans Day celebration. You're seeing the time lapse video of how they built this stadium, if you will, or court.

But this was really for the veterans, a nice treat for them. Mostly service members in the crowd. You did see the president there.

But this was to give them a treat. And, boy, they got one. I was really curious, how are they going to do this thing? I thought weather might be an issue as well. They didn't shoot too well last night, but I don't know if that had to do with anything.

But what a treat last night, Reynolds. Did you get to see any of this?

WOLF: Didn't watch a single bit of it, unfortunately. I wish I had.

But I did hear a couple interesting things. One about the ship's captain talking about when they're on the ocean, how important sports is to the crew, to morale to the crew. It's such an important thing.

How important it is to the players, though. Can you imagine being a 19-year-old player? I had a slam dunk on the Carl Vinson, or I hit a three-point. I mean, it's an amazing.

You know, we were talking right before the break of the opportunity of maybe putting a football game on one of those.

Can you imagine if you fast offense like Arkansas, for example, the Razorbacks? Being in the huddle. OK. I want you to go back, 10 yards, past the tow dab cable, when you get right near the F-18, I'm going to hit you with a bullet pass, and you just take it all down. I mean, it's going to be kind of tough out there.

HOLMES: That's the next idea. But if you go too far out of bounds in a carrier --

WOLF: It's a long drop.

HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, what else you got this morning? Are we not doing weather?

WOLF: I think we're getting the Reynolds wrap.

HOLMES: Oh.

WOLF: So, what we're going to do is try to have weather again later on. But I know we got a lot to talk about, not only weather-wise, but, of course, what's happening in Happy Valley, Penn State. It should be interesting. That's coming up.

HOLMES: Reynolds, thanks as always, buddy. We'll see you here again shortly.

We are about a quarter past the hour now. Going to try to help you not get scammed. Our Clyde Anderson here to tell us about some investment lies out there that people are still falling for. Make sure you're not one of them. He's with me next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Sixteen past the hour.

Our financial expert, Clyde Anderson, trying to help us avoid the crooks and thieves out there who are after your well-earned money. Now, they target folks who are in retirement for a good reason, because these folks have some money.

CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCIAL EXPERT: They have some money, exactly. And 'tis the season. This is the season when we see a lot more of it.

HOLMES: Why now?

ANDERSON: Everybody is spending, they want to give, they want to buy, they want to get those good deals. And so, we are all looking for a deal.

So, why not? You know, take advantage with somebody, right?

HOLMES: OK. Some of these sound familiar. We should know better.

Phantom riches. We get this in our emails sometimes, some of us. But they say essentially we're going to make you some money.

ANDERSON: We're going to make you some money, we can make you a lot of money. A lot of times, they'll name that amount, that they can make you, and say all you have to do is this and you can make this money.

And, usually, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That's what we got to realize and remember.

HOLMES: I got to ask you this. Are any of these ever legit? If somebody is promising you riches --

ANDERSON: I have not seen it.

HOLMES: I haven't seen one yet.

ANDERSON: I have not seen one yet.

HOLMES: OK. You would have to get up on Saturday morning.

ANDERSON: There you go.

HOLMES: Also, here's another one. Someone saying they have these expert credentials.

ANDERSON: Yes. I got expert credentials. I'm the vice president. I'm the CEO. I'm the head of this corporation. And we got this deal for you, and if you take advantage of it right now.

You're not going to get that. You think about it, why are they calling you to tell you about this deal? Why are they trying to attract you? If I'm the CEO of a company, that's not what I'm going to do.

And so, you really just got to step back and think about it, and put it in perspective. A lot of times when we think with our right minds, we'll get. But a lot of times, we get caught up in the chases of the deal or the thrill of the excitement of making something.

HOLMES: OK. As I'm looking at the list and the next one here, this all -- everybody is doing it. Everybody else is doing it. You get it in to.

But some of these seem like commonsense, but we have them on the list for a reason, people are falling for 'em.

ANDERSON: Right. I mean, think about it, it's a human psyche. So, if you tell me Warren Buffett is involved in the deal, and Peter Lynch is involved in it, you need to get involved in it, too, or you're going to miss out. And again, if they're all involved in it, why am I calling you to trust me to get involved in something that good.

HOLMES: We think we're special. We feel to our ego, right?

ANDERSON: There you go. It's our human psyche. It's your ego.

HOLMES: The other here is this tit-for-tat. If you do this, I'll do this.

ANDERSON: Yes, if you do this, I'll cut my commission if you go ahead and sign up right now. You know, why?

HOLMES: Have to jump on that deal.

ANDERSON: You got to jump on the deal, right. It may not be there later, right? That's what we're thinking.

But, no. It's going to be there. If the deal is good, it's going to be there.

HOLMES: That goes right into this last one. We hear that all the time. You know, we hear this from legitimate advertisers as well. Only a few left.

ANDERSON: Yes, it's a great ploy. It's a great ploy and advertisers use it. Again, we have to realize advertisers are playing the game that we don't have the rules to. And if we get the rules, we can know how to play the game. But if you tell me there's only a few left, there's a whole warehouse full of these things and already know they're just trying to sell them a lot quicker.

HOLMES: How badly are people -- the numbers, give us an idea how -- how badly are people being scammed?

ANDERSON: Millions of people every year are being scammed and falling victim to these types of scam. And again, this is the time we're seeing a lot more of them.

And one of the things -- you know, during the holiday season, we talked about Web sites, social media, all this internet. People are selling things online. And so, if I can find that television for $150 cheaper than I can get it on at the store, on your Web site that looks wonderful and tell us you got all the name brand and you got free shipping, I go for it.

And a lot of these are bogus Web sites as well. So, we got to kind of look for the scam. We got to know that they're out here and that people are looking.

HOLMES: All right. We'll talk more about this and maybe we need to do a couple more segments on this closer to the holidays.

Clyde, my man, always good to see you.

ANDERSON: My pleasure.

HOLMES: We're 19 minutes past the hour now. Coming up, reports of gunfire heard near the White House last night. We'll tell you what was recovered near the scene.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A look at some stories making headlines.

Police in Washington are investigating reports of shots fired just a couple of blocks away from the White House last night. The gunfire was heard about nine hours ago. Secret Service officials saying that an AK-47 rifle was also recovered near an abandoned vehicle.

Also this morning, the battle over e-mails intensifies between the White House and the congressional committee investigating a federal loan to a company that went bankrupt. The White House releasing some, but not all, of the e-mails relating to solar energy company, Solyndra. The House panel wants to know if a Solyndra investor and an Obama fund-raiser got preferential treatment in securing that $535 million loan.

Also in Philadelphia, people are getting their last chance to pay respects to former heavyweight boxing champ Joe Frazier. The 67-year- old legend died earlier this week from liver cancer. His body will lay in repose again today. His funeral will be on Monday.

We're 24 minutes past the hour now. Joe Paterno, Bear Bryant, Knute Rockne, all legendary coaches who are bigger than football. But what's the real impact on a school?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty-seven minutes past the hour.

Reynolds and I, of course, people who watch this show know we're big sports fans. WOLF: Yes.

HOLMES: And this whole big Joe Paterno thing now, there's few schools around the country where you name the school and the first thing that come to people's mind is a coach. Penn State is definitely one of them.

WOLF: Well, I mean, I -- no offense to Penn State fans. But most people have no idea what the hell Nittany Lion is. They know Joe Pa. Joe Pa is basically the face of the university. There's no question about it.

I mean, he's the figurehead. And, obviously, I would think, I would argue, I know they have the president of the university, I would argue he's the most powerful person in the university. Obviously, the most well-known.

HOLMES: Yes. Listen to how one student at the school put it about the impact Joe Paterno, a football coach now, has had on that school.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL PAGE, PENN STATE STUDENT: The common theme is that people wish he was allowed to go out on his own time. I think most agree that he probably missed the ball and should have reported more. But I think there was a hope that he was going to be able to go out, kind of get some type of goodbye because he's done so many good things for the campus over the years. I mean, decades of work, both on the football field and off the field. I mean, he's a -- our library is named after him. So, even academically, he's really made a mark on the university.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And, Reynolds, you know this old argument, people will get involved in it, it's just football. The grand scheme of things, these universities are supposed to be there to educate young people and get their lives started. So why would football -- why is there so much power, so much money put into it? Well, the simple answer is frankly money.

WOLF: Absolutely.

HOLMES: It's money.

WOLF: No question about it. You know, there are so many people who feel a great deal of sympathy, and understandably so. We are talking about a legend. A guy, he's been playing -- coaching the game forever. He's part of college football.

But all that being said, as sympathetic as you might feel for him, he's going towards -- he is going towards his twilight years, going towards his twilight years. We are talking about young boys who are at start of their lives.

If this is true, if these allegations end up being true and it is somehow found out and discovered that, say, Joe Pa was an enabler -- no sympathy.

HOLMES: Good point.

Some other coaches -- when you say Duke University. You poll anybody. The first thing out of people's mouths is what?

WOLF: Coach K.

HOLMES: Coach K. Coach Krzyzewski. Now, he has been there, what? Don't know how many years, but he is right on the cusp now of becoming the all-time winningest coach.

But that is what happens at universities oftentimes. He's one that the identities are so caught up. Eddie Robinson at Grambling State. UCLA, John Wooden. You know?

This is just how it is. And people might not love it, like it, but this is why it's been so emotional at Penn State University over the past -- I mean, this week.

WOLF: I was talking about a guy who was actually bigger than the game. I listen to so many different forms of media, including sports radio. And I heard one conversation come up where someone brought up the point, where is the NCAA in all of this?

This is bigger than the NCAA. I mean, this is no longer about football. This is about the lives of young men, some young boys. And it's just devastating. No winners.

HOLMES: Reynolds and I will be back with you at the top hour as CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.