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CNN STUDENT NEWS For July 30, 2002

Aired July 30, 2002 - 04:00   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN STUDENT NEWS seen in schools around the world because learning never stops and neither does the news.

SUSAN FREIDMAN, CO-HOST: CNN STUDENT NEWS kicks off your day with the miracle at the mine. The Quecreek Nine speak out in our "Lead Story." And Afghan warlords stand their ground in today's "Focus." Checking out "Perspectives," we visit a celebrity cemetery. Moving on, we take a thrill ride in "Student Bureau Report."

It's Tuesday, July 30. Welcome to CNN STUDENT NEWS. I'm Susan Freidman.

Nine men back from the depths of a flooded coal mine. Their story of survival has planted a huge smile on the face of America. The men were pulled to the surface early Sunday after spending three days at nearly 240 feet below the earth's surface.

Their ordeal happened at Quecreek Mine in Somerset, Pennsylvania. That's about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The miners had been using an inaccurate map and broke through a wall separating their tunnel from an old abandoned mine, flooding their area with water. A desperate rescue mission ensued. And with the help of teamwork and prayer, the men were hoisted one by one up the narrow shaft.

Yesterday in Charleston, South Carolina, President Bush spoke about the miracle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You saw the great spirit of America recently in Pennsylvania when there were miners who were trapped. People prayed for their -- for their deliverance. Americans spent hours trying to figure out how best to save those miners, came up with a plan, successfully got each and every one of them out. I want to thank God for the prayers of the American people for helping them, and thank God for their savior -- their saving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREIDMAN: The dramatic rescue has gripped many people. Here now, a recap of the events as they unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's get to Somerset, County right now.

First up, nine miners again trapped underground, the water rising, we are told in a collapsed coal mine near Somerset in southwestern Pennsylvania.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very dark. It's probably very wet. And it -- the temperature is above 55 degrees. So we concerned about the folks getting hypothermia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...received no more tapping or any other indications about the miners, but obviously, we remain very optimistic.

MARK SCHWEIKER, GOV. PENNSYLVANIA: We've got at least 150 feet to go. We've quite a few hours in drilling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to succeed. I have good feelings about it. We're going to succeed.

SCHWEIKER: We have reached a critical phase. And how we apply ourselves now is quintessential to our success.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the drill has broken through. They made it through that final leg of six feet.

SCHWEIKER: We broke through down at 239.6. And it certainly is an encouraging development.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking news.

LIN: It is not often that we have the pleasure of bringing you good news on some breaking news stories, but this is good to report. All nine miners trapped a few days are still alive. A family member of one of the trapped men said Saturday. The relatives said they had been given the news by rescue workers who spoke to the trapped men in a communications device lowered down...

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look at the smile on Governor Schweiker. Let's listen to him.

SCHWEIKER: All men are alive.

LIN: Breaking news out of Somerset, Pennsylvania. We have just heard that the first of the surviving nine miners has just been pulled out and pulled to safety. Boy, they don't waste any time out there, do they, Jeff?

FLOCK: We have breaking news left and right here.

SCHWEIKER: I thought these things would only happen in the movies. Well, they've happened in Somerset, Somerset County, right here in Pennsylvania because of some doggest Pennsylvanians and helpful Americans. (END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Perhaps no one can tell the story as well as the survivors themselves. Four of the rescued miners spoke yesterday at a news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHWEIKER: We assembled what I think will go down in history as one of the finest rescue enterprises that will ever be built. And after all -- after all, it's been 30 years since we have had a mine rescue, where every one of the trapped miners came up and is alive, and five of them, here today.

Guys, I'm proud to see you.

JOHN UNGER, RESCUED MINIER: I came today to thank everybody that was out there that helped us and prayed for us and dug in for us, not for no story, no fame, no glory, just to thank all of these people personally from the bottom of my heart.

And I thank our Lord, God all mighty, too. That's another reason, the main reason we are here.

THOMAS FOY, RESCUED MINER: Well, I guess it was faith, and we just wanted to live, and we know we had a family. And we just wanted to survive, and that was it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teamwork. Someone would fall down, we would pick them up, and we just always stayed together, and worked as a team.

SCHWEIKER: People like Ray McKinney (ph), the smart technician he is, who along with Joe Sbaffoni of our DEP, nailed it when it came to dropping that 6-inch air pipe very quickly, with not a whole lot of science, just a gut feel for where we ought to send that down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought a couple of us was having a heart attack, but I don't know if it was anxiety or whatever it was. We all had pain, and we couldn't breath. We laid down a little bit, settled everything down. Once we got air in there, then guys started feeling better.

RANDY FOGLE, RESCUED MINER: I mean, you don't think about the hazards of the job and stuff as much, you know, just doing it. That now, I think we have all thought about it and what everybody went through. I don't know if too many of us will go back to what we did do.

DENNIS HALL, RESCUED MINER: I'll go back, but I have been mining for almost 30 years. This is something that happened that will probably never happen again in a million years.

QUESTION: Have you gentlemen heard from the mining company? Are they covering your expenses? Are they paying you overtime for the time you were in the mine? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They better be paying overtime.

QUESTION: Why do you think this happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, there's a few things. Like I say, somebody screwed up down the line. We don't know who, but we are going to find out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREIDMAN: Investigators plan to inspect the flooded mine in search of answers. One focus will be the inaccurate maps the miners were using.

We shift our focus to international news now, specifically Afghanistan and the ongoing effort to firmly establish that country's new leadership. The national government, led by President Hamid Karzai, is asking some regional leaders to show their allegiance.

Nic Robertson has the story of one such leader, a former warlord whose influence in western Afghanistan has some people concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good to see you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am fine.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When meeting western Afghan strongman Ismail Khan, Coalition Commander General McNeill was delivering not only his concerns but acting as a go- between for the Afghan president as well.

GENERAL DAN MCNEILL, COALITION FORCE COMMANDER: I was with President Karzai yesterday who knows that I was coming today and asked to be remembered to you.

ROBERTSON: An autocratic ruler and self-stout emir of Herat, Khan is at a crossroads. He is under pressure to move to Kabul, join Afghanistan's central government and prove he supports its authority or stay where he is.

ISMAIL KHAN, REGIONAL LEADER (through translator): Not accepting doesn't mean I am disobeying the central government. We agree and have the same ideas, but I think at the moment I am more useful to the central government here.

ROBERTSON: On the surface, Khan seems to serve his people well. The city streets bustle and the busy gold market hints at a regional prosperity unseen in much of the rest of Afghanistan. Without Khan, some fear that prosperity could be lost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're sure that security will change, that economical will change. ROBERTSON: Khan's rule is very personal and controlled. Elders wait sometimes for hours into the night for a chance to ask him to solve their problems. He claims he works 20 to 21 hours a day for his people. But recently, some in the city have challenged the competence of his administration suggesting many of his top officials, the former commanders from his warlord days, and lack the professional abilities to run a government in peacetime.

Much of Khan's wealth and independence these days is derived from customs duties on goods from neighboring Iran and Turkmenistan. His customs minister is a former commander to whom Khan owes his life.

KHAN (through translator): Maybe democracy has a special meaning and interpretation to you. Here, we have freedom of action, freedom of work and participation of all the people.

ROBERTSON: In public, most people do say they are happy with their newfound freedoms, but are cautious when answering questions about Khan.

"I think he should go to Kabul, if that's what the president asks," says Mohammed (ph).

However his friend quickly adds a note of caution, "Yes, he should go, but only if he wants to."

On women's issues, too, Khan is facing criticism. In the city hospital, government officials insist on sitting in on an interview with female doctors and nurses. But on camera, there's no mention of what some had expressed privately, disappointment that a big celebration for International Women's Day here was canceled by Khan earlier this year.

(on camera): Critics of Ismail Khan, and we have spoken with several of them here, say whenever they speak out openly against his administration, they have been threatened or even beaten. They say they hope if he does take a job with the central administration in Kabul then perhaps democracy here can take hold.

(voice-over): But the problems of Herat are not black and white. In his administration, Khan does employ some professionals.

Aziza Saai is a teacher and deputy head of girls' education.

AZIZA SAAI, DEPUTY DIRECTOR GIRLS' EDUCATION (through translator): The main aim of officials is to serve the country wherever they are. The same for Ismail Khan, it doesn't matter where people like him want to serve.

ROBERTSON: While Khan casts himself as a leading national figure, even as he ignores central government pleas to become a minister in Kabul, he listens carefully to international aid groups who, like General McNeill, he petitions for help.

MCNEILL: He's expressed to me some things that he hopes we can help with and we will talk to those who have the ability to provide aid on such a magnitude and see if perhaps they can help.

ROBERTSON: Through military civil affairs programs, money and help are already being plowed into Khan's communities, like this $50,000 18-room school for 1,200 children, built from the ground up by local contractors. All projects are proposed by Khan's ministries, but the money only comes if the projects match coalition goals, one of which is to promote the central government.

SGT. RODNEY COX, 188TH (ph) CIVIL AFFAIRS BATTALION: The central government that is now in place in Kabul and the ministries here are working together. They are communicating.

ROBERTSON: Cooperation one thing, pressure to make Khan move to Kabul another. He warns that pressure to become part of the central government could be counterproductive.

KHAN (through translator): Two decades of interference wasn't useful for anyone. Russia and Pakistan both suffered. But I believe those experiences will be learned by other countries who intervene in our politics and the destiny of our people.

ROBERTSON: Khan's apparent intransigence raises questions about what sort of democracy the central government can achieve even if it has the help of the international community if it doesn't have the support of the provincial leadership.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Herat, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: We make our way back to the states for a blast from the past. Have you ever wondered what life was really like for people living in the 1950s? A new museum in Illinois offers a slice of baby boomer life.

Keith Oppenheim paid a visit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), let's look around at the other things you've never seen before.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Look and see the sunburst clock and the hi-fi record player, the pink flamingo and the pink blender, the box of Oxydol and the vial of Doan's Pills.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You really feel like you're in the '50s.

OPPENHEIM: This newly built house is a museum designed to recall not just a typical 1950's home but a typical home of Rolling Meadows, the Chicago suburb born in the baby boom.

(on camera): It was in 1953 that a developer named Kimball Hill bought some 500 acres here to build homes for veterans, younger couples, folks who needed affordable housing. In just two years the population multiplied by 10, and the people who lived in Rolling Meadows saw themselves as pioneers who were creating their own town.

BEATRICE O'HALLORAN, ROLLING MEADOWS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: And no one had any history here. We made our own history. I felt that we should tell that history.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): The way to do that, organizers decided, was to create a real house with a fictitious family. Visitors learn about the homeowners Fred and Mildred and their three kids, Judy, Danny and Susan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is one of Susan's coats.

OPPENHEIM: The idea (INAUDIBLE) to remind the old and teach the young what it was like when Rolling Meadows was just beginning.

KATHLEEN BRIGHTWELL, ROLLING MEADOWS HISTORICAL SOCIETY: I know in my wildest dreams I never thought it would be received the way it has been.

OPPENHEIM: One difference we should mention, average prices for Rolling Meadows' ranches were $12,000 to $13,000 in the mid-'50s. This replica cost $245,000.

In Rolling Meadows, Illinois, I'm Keith Oppenheim reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives."

FREIDMAN: To Los Angeles now and a Hollywood attraction that may sound a bit unusual. Founded in 1899, Hollywood Forever Memorial Park is home to an historic graveyard and each year it attracts visitors from around the world. You see it's not your typical cemetery, the owners have put an interesting spin on this old and traditional business.

Paul Clinton takes us there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL CLINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nestled in the shadow of Paramount Studios, Hollywood Forever Memorial Park is the final resting place for many film making pioneers. Douglas Fairbanks, Peter Lorre, Jayne Mansfield, and Janet Gaynor are among hem.

Cemetery owners Brent and Tyler Cassity have turned it into an increasingly popular tourist attraction by adding interactive tributes for departed stars. Fans just punch up a video memorial at one of several kiosks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do more and more celebrity biographies every month, and they are the more obscure ones at this point.

CLINTON: The cemetery is the subject of an HBO documentary. Ironically, the network behind is Six Feet Under. Usually reserved for celebrities, the video service is now available to the public.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As it is now, when you walk into most cemeteries, you have a stone, and we see ourselves as filling in that dash with the whole story, so that generations from now, great- grandchildren can come and access those memories.

CLINTON: The brothers have built their own production company on site to make the videos.

BRENT CASSITY, CEO, FOREVER ENTERPRISES: We are hopefully revolutionizing the way that people capture the memory of the person, and if we can do that, I think families will really appreciate that.

CLINTON: At Hollywood Forever, the main draw is still the celebrity tombs, like Rudolph Valentino's.

(on camera): How many people actually come and visit this particular site?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, there are people daily who come here and leave flowers, looks like they left some wine here. He's the most visited person here.

CLINTON (voice-over): Tyrone Power Jr. has been coming here for years. His movie star father died before he was born.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually came here as a child. My father's stunt double, good friend named Mike Steckler (ph), took me here as a kid, and I learned to ride a bike in this place.

CLINTON: For the brothers, that's just the point. They want to make cemeteries a place where people can come and celebrate both life and memories.

Paul Clinton, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: By any chance do your folks have a gym membership? Well if so, they shouldn't be surprised if their boss wants to talk to them about it.

Because, as Andrew Brown found out, some managers are finding it's easy to check out who's been working out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.K.-based Fitness First club has been looking at a new technology that records who is going to the gym, what machines they use and how well they're performing. The data can be shared with companies itching to know whether executives who have signed up for fitness programs are becoming stronger and healthier.

MIKE LAMB, FITNESS FIRST: We can actually give them a report to show what their executives have been doing while they're in the gym. BROWN: The system is based on a digital key. It fits in to the console of each exercise machine and monitors an individual's workout. It also tracks attendance, which is useful for companies paying for their employees to belong to a gym.

LAMB: I think they just want to see that the money that they're spending is well spent.

BROWN: Yet bosses requesting access to a gym's database are in a delicate position. Members have different views about whether in principle an employer has the right to this information.

(on camera): Do you think that will be an invasion of privacy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, because I'm the boss myself so.

BROWN (voice-over): Technogym, the Italian company behind the digital keys concept, says it can adapt its programs to comply with privacy laws in different jurisdictions. So far it says it has 800 customers worldwide. And according to Technogym, a number of multinationals, including Adidas, Goldman Sachs and GlaxoSmithKline, are using the system.

Fitness First stresses it's still evaluating the product and may not be able to make use of all its features.

LAMB: Maybe we just show what time you came to the gym and what time you left. And so if you spent 90 percent of it in the sauna, your boss -- your boss wouldn't know.

BROWN (on camera): On the other hand, you could just crank up that treadmill to make your boss think that you are a world class athlete.

(voice-over): After all, no one's going to know what you actually do at the gym.

Andrew Brown, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Well if a treadmill isn't up your alley, how does trudging around an amusement park sound? Millions of people head there each year. And for many thrill seekers, the higher, the faster and the scarier the ride the better. The illusion of danger can be exciting, but sometimes risk turns into reality.

CNN's Julie Vallese reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIE VALLESE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you're one of the millions of Americans expected to visit an amusement park this year, there is something the industry wants you to know. BILL POWERS, IAAPA SPOKESMAN: Every day engineers wake up in the morning before the parks open, ride all the rides, walk all the tracks, inspect every nut and bolt possible.

VALLESE: But for Debra Benagh (ph) that's not enough. She suffered a cerebral hemorrhage after riding the Mind Eraser roller coaster.

DEBRA BENAGH, VICTIM: Kind of came out of the seat and slammed into the harness and compressed my ribs and then slammed back and then had numerous hits throughout the ride, especially since it was a looping roller coaster. The neurologist said it's kind of like shaken baby syndrome because there's so many hits.

VALLESE: After some investigation, she learned 22 other people had suffered various degrees of head and neck injuries on the same ride.

(on camera): According to government statistics, more than 20 people have died over the past 10 years on amusement park rides. That prompted new legislation to be introduced in 1999 and every year since, but that legislation has stalled here on Capitol Hill.

(voice-over): Congressman Ed Markey who wrote the legislation vows Congress will take up the issue.

REP. ED MARKEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I'm afraid that it's going to take more accidents, more injuries, more deaths before we get the hearings and the legislation that reduces the likelihood that they occur.

VALLESE: Debra Benagh hopes not.

BENAGH: Every summer I kind of hold my breath knowing that more and more people are being hurt and then especially when I read about the deaths that are occurring.

VALLESE: The industry says it can police itself and that it's already doing what's necessary to keep its park safe.

In Washington, Julie Vallese reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: To help you put things in perspective, let's take a look at a few of the facts. In the year 2000, an estimated 6,500 people were injured at big site amusement parks. That's compared to 40,000 people injured while dancing and 80,000 people injured on playgrounds.

Keeping safety in mind, let's take a ride, one made just for all you fun seekers and roller coaster fiends. It's time to experience a new amusement park arrival that gets you flying high.

Student Bureau has your ticket.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB DRISCOLL, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): Risk takers like these say nothing beats the adrenaline rush of a thrill ride. But is falling 200 feet at 70 miles an hour really fun? These riders say that it is.

JOSE LOPEZ, ROLLER COASTER RIDER: It's exciting because it's like life -- it's like you know life threatening a little bit, but then at the same time you know you're secure.

ANTONIO DELGADO, ROLLER COASTER RIDER: That's my favorite. The straight drop is like one or two seconds but it's so intense.

LOPEZ: And just the whole experience of going up and down and flying upside down, just something you can't do in the ordinary life.

DRISCOLL: The Internet group the Roller Coaster Database shows that as many as 26 new roller coasters were opened in 2002, attracting over 320 million visitors.

JOHN ODUM, SIX FLAGS OVER GEORGIA: I think the reason that people like to ride coasters is it's an opportunity for you to feel a little bit on the edge but you know you're always in control.

DRISCOLL: According to Six Flags Over Georgia's General Manager John Odum, it's not just teenagers who are attracted to roller coasters.

ODUM: I was standing on the exit of Superman the other day, coincidentally enough, and an 83-year-old grandmother with grandkids in tow came off. And she said, you know I've ridden a lot of roller coasters in 83 years and that's far and away the best. And I think that's the truest testament to the span of ages that ride coasters.

DRISCOLL: There are nine different versions of Superman the ride all around the world. Although other rides are similar, the Superman Ultimate Flight is the only coaster of its kind in the southeast that straps riders in face down to simulate actual flying.

ODUM: The great thing about this ride is it takes the track out of the picture. You don't see the track and all you really see is the ground below you.

DRISCOLL (on camera): The Superman ride of flight actually looks like this except the seat tips forward giving you the effect of flying. This effect is making the Superman Ultimate Flight a main stop for thrill seekers here at Six Flags Over Georgia.

LOPEZ: I mean it's awesome. You know it feels like, you know, you're flying like Superman.

BEN INMAN, ROLLER COASTER RIDER: And I went like that.

DRISCOLL: Did you?

INMAN: I went like Superman. ODUM: This is the only coaster of its type where you actually enter a loop at the top and go down through the loop and so at the bottom of the loop you're on your back. There's no other coaster anywhere that creates that sensation.

DRISCOLL (voice-over): When there is a ride as popular as Superman Ultimate Flight, one thing that can be expected are long lines. But parks like Six Flags are introducing a device known as the Q-bot to help solve the wait.

ADRIAN RICHARDSON, BOOTH OPERATOR: I'm at the ride reservation system that we have in the park. It holds a guest's spot in line so that they don't have to actually stand there and can go and enjoy other things throughout the park like watching shows, playing games or standing in shorter ride lines.

DRISCOLL: Whether it's the flips, turns, speed or incredible height of roller coasters and other thrill rides, there is something that keeps people coming back and something that attracts new people every season. Riders look at roller coasters and see speed and an out of control yet in control experience.

Bob Driscoll, CNN Student Bureau, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World" became a U.S. territory in 1848, most populous U.S. state, known as the Golden State? Can you name this state? California, U.S.A.

FREIDMAN: We're still California dreaming tomorrow when we jump into a hot debate -- Hollywood, should it stay or should it go? Want to know what we're talking about, well meet us back here tomorrow and we'll fill you in. See you then.

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