CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-11-19

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Dan Rather and welcome to the

[0:02] CBS Evening News online edition. Just

[0:04] ahead, Dline Ramani. You are there as US

[0:08] Marines led by a true American hero

[0:11] fight and die in the Iraqi city. Also,

[0:14] CBS exposes a lone scam that costs some

[0:17] people their homes in our Friday

[0:20] Consumer Alert. And while it's great to

[0:22] give your child every advantage, how

[0:25] young is too young for tutoring? It's

[0:28] all starting now on the CBS Evening News

[0:31] online edition.

[0:33] US Marines have been in the thick of the

[0:35] fighting inc and near Fallujah. And

[0:37] today in St. Augustine, Florida, a flag

[0:40] pole was dedicated to a Marine captain

[0:42] who paid the ultimate price this week

[0:44] while leading his men in combat. Our CBS

[0:47] News colleague Kirk Spitzer was with the

[0:49] captain's unit in the hot zone west of

[0:52] Baghdad. CBS's Kimberly Doer has the

[0:55] story.

[0:57] While the world was watching Fallujah,

[1:00] Americans were fighting and dying in

[1:02] bitter street-to- street battles with

[1:04] insurgents in other parts of Iraq.

[1:07] >> Coming for me,

[1:08] >> US Marine Captain Patrick Rapaco, 34,

[1:11] from St. Augustine, Florida, was at the

[1:13] front of the fight.

[1:14] >> And rock, rock, whiskey 6.

[1:16] >> With his heavy southern accent,

[1:17] >> we'll have vehicle on both side.

[1:19] >> He led for his men to follow, always in

[1:22] the enemy's sights.

[1:23] >> Constantly under observation from those

[1:25] guys. Uh they know where we go.

[1:27] >> Monday in Ramani, sister city of

[1:29] Fallujah, the Marines were out hunting.

[1:31] >> Whiskey for we take the lead

[1:33] >> and being hunted. Six of whiskey

[1:35] company's 180 Marines had already been

[1:37] killed in action here. Captain Rapico

[1:39] had been injured five times in just 5

[1:42] months.

[1:43] >> Still pretty dangerous place, I would

[1:44] say. I mean, there's still a lot of

[1:45] place for those those people to uh to

[1:47] hide. Uh IDs uh and they're getting

[1:51] pretty ingenious about it, too. It's a

[1:53] battle over who controls the streets. If

[1:55] the Marines withdraw, they fear this

[1:57] will become another Fallujah. But they

[1:59] know all too well that also makes them

[2:02] targets. But once in a while, you you'll

[2:04] you'll get into those well prepared

[2:06] ambush.

[2:06] >> Late on Monday, as Captain Rapico headed

[2:09] back to base, the enemy caught up with

[2:11] him. A suicide bomber pulled alongside

[2:14] and in an instant, he was dead along

[2:16] with Corporal Marcus Ryan and Corporal

[2:18] Lance Thompson. Two other Marines were

[2:21] seriously injured. All his men can do

[2:23] now is remember a commander they called

[2:25] tougher than a woodpecker's lips. An

[2:28] enlisted man who became a leader of men.

[2:31] >> He was a Marine. He'll never be

[2:33] forgotten.

[2:34] >> And another American life picked off by

[2:36] a suicidal enemy that just keeps coming.

[2:39] Kimberly Doer, CBS News, Baghdad.

[2:42] >> Sometimes when you're in trouble, you

[2:43] can become an easy target for a con

[2:45] artist who says he can get you out of

[2:47] it. That's what happened to the people

[2:49] you're about to meet. CBS's Cheryl

[2:51] Atkinson investigated and came back with

[2:53] tonight's CBS Consumer Alert.

[2:57] >> I'll let you lead the way. 77 full years

[3:00] of cherished memories are packed into

[3:02] Idris Bala's old Washington DC home.

[3:04] >> One of my best friends.

[3:06] >> Oh, he put his name up there.

[3:08] >> Well, we used to have a Victroller,

[3:11] you know, for music. I mean, I feel a

[3:13] part of the house and the house is a

[3:14] part of me. But last year, he faced

[3:16] foreclosure on his beloved home. That's

[3:19] when Calvin Baltimore came knocking. "I

[3:22] can make you a loan to stop the

[3:24] foreclosure," his card said.

[3:25] >> You know, I didn't take my glasses with

[3:26] me, and that's why I couldn't read what

[3:28] he was doing and so forth. And he said,

[3:29] "Well, I'm saving your house for you."

[3:31] >> But the papers Bal signed actually

[3:33] transferred ownership of his house to

[3:35] another man, Vincent Abel. By the time

[3:38] Belal realized he'd signed away his

[3:40] childhood home to a stranger, it was too

[3:42] late.

[3:43] >> I thought about suicide. say

[3:45] >> I did.

[3:46] >> The same scenario was repeated not far

[3:48] away where Catherine Mees was facing

[3:50] foreclosure again. Vincent Abel was

[3:53] there offering to save the day.

[3:55] >> You thought you were getting a loan to

[3:57] get you out of debt.

[3:58] >> Yes.

[3:59] >> What did he actually do?

[4:01] >> He actually took my house basically is

[4:04] what he did.

[4:05] >> The AARP says it's a common scam. I have

[4:08] heard of it in at least 10 cities in the

[4:10] US in in Minnesota and Chicago and

[4:13] California and Atlanta.

[4:14] >> We tried to find Vincent Abel at the

[4:16] offices of his company Modern

[4:18] Management. Can you call him?

[4:20] >> Can I call him?

[4:21] >> But he wasn't in.

[4:22] >> Hi,

[4:24] CBS News is here to talk to you. They're

[4:27] doing a story about a lawsuit against

[4:29] you.

[4:30] >> And we wanted to get his side of the

[4:32] story

[4:35] to help you.

[4:36] >> No comments. It turns out both Abel and

[4:39] Baltimore have done time in federal

[4:41] prison for property schemes. Now the

[4:44] AARP is suing them in civil court hoping

[4:46] mess and bal can get their houses back.

[4:49] In the meantime, both are renting the

[4:51] family homes they no longer own.

[4:53] >> He said he was a deacon in his church

[4:56] but you know people do things on Sunday

[4:58] and different things on money sometime.

[5:00] I trusted the man. I trusted him. The

[5:04] law is short on trust, but long on hope

[5:06] that a house full of memories will

[5:08] someday be back in the family. Cheryl

[5:11] Atinson, CBS News, Washington.

[5:13] >> It's the latest trend in early childhood

[5:16] education. Parents hiring tutors for

[5:18] kids barely old enough to know what a

[5:20] tutor is. Is this a good idea? CBS's

[5:24] Sandra Hughes reports a new twist in the

[5:26] learning curve in tonight's Eye on

[5:28] America.

[5:31] Oh, big girl. Struggling with a book bag

[5:34] that's almost as big as she is. Let's

[5:36] go.

[5:36] >> Four-year-old Claire Franklin is on her

[5:39] way to school.

[5:41] >> Good job.

[5:42] >> Not kindergarten. She's too young, not

[5:44] even preschool.

[5:47] >> Claire is getting tutoring for the

[5:48] tiniest of tots at Junior Kuman, a

[5:51] center where kids as young as two take

[5:54] classes to prepare for preschool.

[5:56] >> Good. What number is this? Twice a week,

[6:00] Claire has drilled on letters and

[6:01] numbers.

[6:02] >> She's counting to 30, 40, 50. You know,

[6:05] I it's just happening so fast that I'm

[6:08] I'm really impressed. Actually,

[6:09] >> Vancene Franklin didn't want her kids to

[6:11] struggle with math like she did. So, she

[6:14] decided on tutoring when she was still

[6:16] pregnant with Claire. It

[6:17] >> just kind of keeps you one step ahead of

[6:19] the rest.

[6:20] >> One step ahead seems to be where many

[6:22] parents want their children. Kuman, a

[6:25] Japanese-based learning system, has

[6:26] become America's fourth fastest growing

[6:29] franchise business of any kind.

[6:32] >> Remember to write.

[6:32] >> Nancy Milovich, who runs a booming Kuman

[6:35] Center, knows why.

[6:36] >> The idea of practicing math and reading

[6:39] a little bit every day uh is something

[6:42] that parents really believe in.

[6:44] >> But early childhood experts have a

[6:46] warning.

[6:47] >> In the long run, um those academic

[6:49] programs might backfire. In fact, by the

[6:52] time the children are in the third

[6:54] grade, they are starting to burn out.

[6:57] >> School.

[6:58] >> Educators say kindergarten and first

[7:01] grade have become more academic. But

[7:03] they see no evidence kids in early

[7:05] tutoring, perform better than their

[7:06] peers.

[7:07] >> Success, especially at the kindergarten

[7:10] level and first grade level, is not all

[7:12] about being at the top of the class.

[7:14] It's also very much about how they

[7:15] function on the playground, how they

[7:17] relate to their teachers, and how they

[7:20] resolve just their day-to-day problems

[7:22] that come up.

[7:24] >> Still, parents like the Franklin say

[7:26] they're not pressuring their kids.

[7:28] >> Are you angsting about things you don't

[7:30] need to angst about?

[7:32] >> No, I don't think so. I don't cuz I'm

[7:34] I'm I'm not a pushy mom.

[7:36] >> Go. Not pushing, just preparing for what

[7:39] they see is an increasingly competitive

[7:42] world in Northridge, California. This is

[7:44] Sandra Hughes for Eye in America.

[7:47] >> More stories are just a click away. But

[7:49] be sure to join me on television for the

[7:51] on air edition of the CBS Evening News.

[7:54] Beginning on Monday's broadcast, issues

[7:56] that divide Americans. What are they and

[8:00] why? We'll give you a hard look in our

[8:02] Eye on America special series for

[8:05] CBSN.com.