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CNN 10
President Trump and Governor Scott Survey Damage from Hurricane Michael; Sears Declares Bankruptcy; CNN Hero, "No One Left Behind" Charity; Boa Constrictor Gets Loose At High School In Alexandria, Virginia
Aired October 16, 2018 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: A very resilient state, that`s what Governor Rick Scott says about Florida. The reason why is our first story today on
CNN 10. After Hurricane Michael struck last Wednesday, Governor Scott toured the hardest hit areas. He described Mexico Beach, which apparently
took the brunt of the storm as being like a war zone. U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump joined the governor Monday after
taking an aerial tour aboard Marine 1. The President was also expected to visit parts of Georgia that were hit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (inaudible) everyone`s safe. That they`re fed. You know many of these people have no - - have no home. Some of them have
no trace of a home. You wouldn`t even know they just got blown off the footings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARL AZUZ: The Category 4 hurricane left behind clear examples of what a storm that strong could do. Dozens of beachfront homes are simply gone.
Some were lifted by waves and wind and carried to other places. In Mexico Beach, one resident says the Florida panhandle`s still his home but he`s
going to rebuild somehow. Part of that resilience the governor spoke of. The city`s police chief says search crews are looking for 30 to 35 people
who are still missing. Officials have made progress in getting to the most heavily damaged parts of Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve been around the Mexico Beach area now for three days and you are still stunned by the forces of nature that played here.
Both the tidal storm surge and on top of that the tremendously high winds that just reeked havoc. But let me start you with the good news and the
good news and there is a lot of good news. Let me start with the fact that there are thousands of first responders that had made it into the community
here and they have been doing a tremendous amount of work.
The first thing they had to do was just clear their way to get into this community. Clearing the roads have been almost a heroic effort. They`ve
managed to get the major thoroughfares open and that`s essential for the rest of the relief to come in. The other good news is that relatively the
death toll is incredibly low compared to the massive amount of destruction that you see here. And then the other good news, telephone, cell phones at
least have begun to work again. It`s a little spotty but I can`t tell you how much that means. Both for first responders to coordinate their relief
efforts and also for the people who are trapped here who can now reach out to their loved ones and let them know that they survived alive and well.
Now the bad news. There were about 300 people give or take that rode out the storm here and they are still trying to account for all of them and
they have not been able to do that. There is a significant number that are still missing. Hence why the search and rescue efforts is still ongoing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARL AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these U.S. retail companies started as a mail order watch and jewelry business in 1893? J.C. Penney, Zales,
Tiffany and Company, or Sears. Sears Roebuck and Company got it`s name in 1893 though Richard W. Sears had been in business years before that.
Sears Holdings, the parent company of both Sears and K-Mart is filing for bankruptcy. It`s been struggling for years and it had a debt payment that
was due on Monday that it just couldn`t afford to pay. Hundreds of Sears and K-Mart stores have already been closed this year. There are 700 that
are still open and their parent company says that 142 of them will be closed in the weeks ahead. Bankruptcy does not necessarily mean that Sears
is going out of business. Though, many companies that file for bankruptcy do. Sears Holdings is planning to keep open it`s profitable stores along
with it`s websites. But as the company`s future looks uncertain, it`s past is an undeniable part of America`s retail heritage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Back in the late 1800`s in Minnesota, Richard Sears was spending his days as a railroad station agent. Until one day he sold
some watches from a local jeweler and realized he was really good at selling. So in 1886 he started a mail order company, the R.W. Sears Watch
Company and eventually hired a watchmaker Alvah C. Roebuck. And in 1893, Sears, Roebuck and Co. was born. Sears then became a very successful mail
order catalog company. This business model broke the mold. Remember most Americans were living in small towns with access to only a few stores.
They often made their own clothes and furniture or did without.
Sears early catalogs only featured watches and jewelry but soon these catalog were more than 500 pages long. People could buy anything from
shoes, wagons, stoves and musical instruments. Sometimes people even bought their homes directly from Sears. And because Sears bought in gold,
the company was able to charge customers lower prices. In 1925, Sears opened it`s first retail location in Chicago and it wasn`t just retail.
Sears had a radio station, a mortgage business, a credit card, Sears was everywhere. Annual sales hit $1 billion in 1945. The next year sales
doubled. Once Americans started to move to the booming suburbs after World War II, Sears began investing into help build malls. By 1970, Sears was
considered untouchable by it`s rivals. But not all stories have a happy ending. As the 20th century came to a close, so did Sear`s reign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARL AZUZ: Some of the war veterans who fought with the U.S. military have never set foot on American soil. But they`ve helped American troops
navigate and survive in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. Countries who`s native languages are Arabic, Dari, and Pashto. Matt Zeller is a U.S.
Army Reserve Captain and Afghanistan war veteran who`s helping foreign veterans find a new and safer home in America. His nonprofit "No one Left
Behind" has helped thousands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT ZELLER, FOUNDER OF "NO ONE LEFT BEHIND CHARITY": I literally would not be here today if it wasn`t for Janish (ph) and Amori (ph) my translator
during deployment with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. He actually saved my life when he shot and killed two Taliban fighters who were about to kill me
in a battle. Afghan and Iraqi translators, they put themselves and their families at extreme risks to help us with our military`s mission. Janish
(ph) was hunted. The Taliban assigned a hit team to go after him and his family. There were bounties placed on their heads.
I made him a promise. I said, I`m going to get you and your family to safety here in the United States. It took five years. When he arrived we
decided we were going to start an organization to bring Afghan and Iraqi interpreters who served the military to safety here in the United States.
We helped them get their Visas. And then when they arrived in the United States, we actually greet them at the airport. So today we have an Afghan
translator coming to America for the first time with his wife and his two very young daughters. So on a deeper level I want these Afghans and Iraqis
to feel like they have been welcomed. That they`re thanked and honored for their sacrifice.
Welcome.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks for everything.
ZELLER: Thank you. Welcome to your new country. You earned this. This is your home now. We`re so happy that you`re here. Welcome to the United
States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got shot by the Taliban because they knew that I worked with the Coalition Forces and they kidnapped me. Those four years
(inaudible) came with my family. They give me the opportunity to (inaudible) in safe place. I will never forget it.
ZELLER: Once they get here, we find them a place to live. We fully furnish their home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. We have to talk about the next phase.
ZELLER: We help them get a job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things we will need to do is get you a resume.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So thank you. This organization really helped me. We are trying to (inaudible) our life in the United States. We are really
happy.
ZELLER: These individuals fight shoulder to shoulder with our troops. They`re proud patriots who signed up to defend their country and to help us
with our mission. How could we leave these people behind?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARL AZUZ: A short list of animals you don`t want to escape from their cages. Snakes, but that happened recently at Hayfield High School in
Alexandria, Virginia when a boa constrictor named Buddy broke out. Boa`s aren`t venomous but his escape still set off alarms both actual and
emotional. An animal control officer located and wrangled the wayward reptile and Buddy`s cage got new security upgrades. Someone put rocks on
top of it. "Ssssso" now we`ll "ssssee" if Buddy`s "ssserious" about getting out. If his ambitions can be "constricted" or he`s truly an a
"esnake" artist. "Assssuming" he`s the type to "boa-st" about it. He`s probably quick to strike up a conversation, tell his tale and wag is
"forked tongue" here, "slithere" and everywhere. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10.
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