Quick Guide & Transcript: School shooting in Pennsylvania, Ole Miss dedicates integration statue

Adjust font size:

(CNN Student News) -- October 3, 2006

Quick Guide

Amish School Shooting - Hear a report about a school shooting that has brought anguish to an Amish community.

Monument to History - See how a Mississippi university honored a pioneering graduate who broke the school's color line.

Global Warming - Understand why many residents of an Indian Ocean atoll are so concerned about global warming.

Teachers: Please preview the first segment, as it may not be appropriate for some students.

Transcript

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

DANIELLE ELIAS, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome to this Tuesday edition of CNN Student News! I'm Danielle Elias. A group of people who live quietly to themselves experience a very worldly crime. How a school shooting shocks an Amish community. He endured heckling just to go to class. Four decades later, how Ole Miss honors a hero who broke down segregation's walls. And could an island paradise be at risk from global warming? How rising waters could create new environmental refugees.

First Up: Amish School Shooting

ELIAS: Teachers, we encourage you to preview this first story, as it deals with a school shooting. An Amish town in Pennsylvania is in anguish, a day after a gunman barricaded himself and several students in a one-room schoolhouse and opened fire. The shooting took place Monday in Lancaster county, about 60 miles west of Philadelphia. One official described the crime scene as "horrendous." Police say at least three girls were killed and several others wounded. They say the shooter took his own life. He was identified as a 32-year-old milk truck driver who lived in the area. Police believe the man was acting out revenge for something that happened 20 years ago, though they weren't immediately sure what. This was the third deadly school shooting in the U.S. in less than a week's time. One college professor told us the incident would be particularly shocking to an Amish community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD KRABILL, ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE: The schools are typically very safe, secure places. There typically is one female teacher, sometimes there is a second teacher's aide who works with the teacher, who is responsible for all eight grades. And these are quiet, gentle settings. And so this would be a tremendous shock to the children, because they wouldn't have been exposed to this kind of thing on television, it really, it would be a tremendous shock to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Amish 101

ELIAS: We're familiar with the image of an Amish family, dressed in simple clothing and traveling by horse buggy. The Christian group's history is less widely known. Its roots date back to the Reformation in 16th century Europe. The group takes its name from Swiss founder Jacob Amman. The Amish were persecuted, and they began to immigrate to North America. Their principles are rooted in literal translations of the Bible. Amish life is marked by community and the avoidance of modern conveniences. Keeping tradition day-to-day means not using electricity, central heating or cars. In the U.S., most Amish live in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana.

Promo

ELIAS: Teachers, we realize that school safety can be a difficult subject to talk about with your students. To help you out, we've put together a free learning activity on the subject. Using it as their guide, your students will be able to find out the safety measures that are in place at their school. Head to CNN.com/EDUCATION to check it out.

Foley Resigns

ELIAS: In Washington, investigations are underway into the alleged behavior of a former Florida congressman. Republican Mark Foley is accused of sending inappropriate e-mails and instant messages to teen-age congressional pages. He resigned Friday, and is now in a rehab facility for alcoholism treatment. House Speaker Dennis Hastert says Foley violated public trust in the page program, which lets teenagers serve as messengers on Capitol Hill. Meantime, Florida State Representative Joe Negron has been chosen to replace Foley in next month's election.

Monument to History

ELIAS: It may be hard for you to imagine a time when students of different races went to different schools. But when James Meredith became the first black student at the University of Mississippi in 1962, his presence sparked riots. As Bernard Watson of affiliate WHBQ explains, Meredith is now being honored where he once was jeered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNARD WATSON, REPORTER: What a difference the passage of time makes. Forty-four years ago when James Meredith walked across Ole Miss's campus as the first and only African American student... he wasn't greeted by cheers and applause.

MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: On campus he was often shunned, scorned, heckled... he was dogged by harassment, but he stayed as a student until he completed his class requirements and graduated a year later.

WATSON: Meredith returned to Ole Miss's campus Sunday for the unveiling of a statue of himself. It's in honor of the tremendous courage and bravery it took...to take on what must have seemed like an entire state...committed to keeping African Americans off the school's campus.

ROUN MCNEAL, STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT: This monument stands for... as a symbol of our ever present dedication to equality, to brotherhood, to our repentance.

JOHN LEWIS, HOUSE OF REP. (D) GA.: It's important for us to remember. It's important for us to never forget.

WATSON: On this day, James Meredith was a man of few words. He didn't take the stage to share his thoughts and feelings with the large crowd. But following the ceremony, the man who risked his life to provide future opportunities for so many others opened up.

JAMES MEREDITH, HONORED: To me, what it means is that the University of Mississippi is saying that their old practices are no more. But, there is still too much left to be done for me to praise what's already been done.

LEWIS: James Meredith you help make it possible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

I.D. Me

AZUZ: See if you can ID Me! I'm a tiny group of atolls -- small, coral islands -- located in the Indian Ocean. My total land area measures just 115 square miles. Maybe you or someone you know has traveled here -- tourism accounts for 20 percent of my gross domestic product! This was tough -- if you said the Maldives, you got it! You'll find the islands south-southwest of India.

Global Warming

ELIAS: On islands and along coastlines, global warming is not just a theoretical exercise. Some scientists link global warming to rising ocean waters. And that could threaten the Maldives, an island nation that barely rises above sea level. The first sign of trouble might be in its distressed coral reefs. Seth Doane goes underwater to get the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH DOANE, CNN REPORTER: Shaahina, a scuba instructor, worries her son nick won't ever see the coral reefs the same way she has. The Maldives is a nation of nearly twelve-hundred islands -- perched on coral reefs -- off the southern tip of India. The reefs attract divers and play a key role in the nation's two biggest industries -- tourism and fishing. But some fear they are in danger...

SHAAHINA ALI, DIVE INSTRUCTOR: Normally when we were children, without diving - you could just snorkel and see a lot of stuff. live coral, like huge table coral - huge massive -- a lot of fish. But now, to swim on a reef-top you don't see that much.

DOANE: Coral is a living organism - and while it's resilient -- it thrives in certain temperatures. When el nino weather conditions brought warmer water temperatures here a few years ago, many coral reefs were bleached. Some worry that global warming will have a much greater impact.

ALI: Bleached coral is very susceptible to algae growth and algae can suffocate the coral. And that means the coral dies.

DOANE: Shaahina - and many others - are concerned that rising sea-temperatures could kill-off the coral. We suit up and hop into the water to take a look. These pictures, from our dive, show bleached coral - on what once was a thriving reef. If the water stays warm, the bleached coral may die. Global climate change seems like such an abstract concept until you're down there diving -- seeing the bleached coral first hand. Imagining that impact multiplied many times around the world - and potentially imagining it getting much worse. Saving the coral - and acknowledging the threat of global warming is a priority for the president of the Maldives and his cabinet.

AHMED SHAHEED, FOREIGN MINISTER: You have to be very optimistic to live in the Maldives - where the islands rise barely 3 feet above water. So, no, when we speak of global warming - we're talking about a very serious threat and danger to the country.

DOANE: The concern is that as polar-ice caps melt - sea levels rise and threaten low-lying areas. The intergovernmental panel on climate change projects sea levels could rise up to eighty-eight centimeters by the end of this century. For Maldivians that's a frightening figure -- as most of this country is not even two-meters above sea level. And it may be the coral -- natural rings of defense - that is being damaged first.

MOHAMAD HUSSAIN SHAREEF , CHIEF GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: The long term scenario - or long-term fear, is that the Maldives could very well be inundated completely - and that we, as a people, may have to actually vacate these islands...this country - and actually move and hence, be termed "the world's first environmental refugees."

DOANE: While the effects of global climate change are gradual, this nation may be among the first that is forced to deal with them. Seth Doane, CNN, The Maldives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Before We Go

ELIAS: Before we go, an auction that boldly goes where no sale has gone before. "Trekkies" are converging on Christie's in New York. The auction house is holding a three-day sale of props from the TV show "Star Trek" starting Thursday. Among the 4,000 items are costumes, spaceship models and even parts from the "Enterprise" bridge. The show first aired 40 years ago. The studio Paramount should "live long and prosper" from the sale. Just one "Star Trek" communicator is estimated at $500 dollars.

Goodbye

ELIAS: Speaking of boldly going, we're out of time. Thanks for joining us on CNN Student News. I'm Danielle Elias.

Tools:
Save |
Print |
E-mail |
Most Popular |

Next story in Education

Education

Passenger sets off fireworks aboard airliner

A passenger ignited fireworks Friday at the end of a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan, a Delta Air Lines spokeswo ...