McCloy Family Feud; Roger Keith Coleman Was Guilty
PHILLIPS: Continuing to wait for the president of the United States to step up to the podium there in Bay St. Louis. At this hour, we hope to hear his speech to residents and reporters, a lot of people want to hear what he has to say. There's been a lot of controversy over whether improvements have been made quick enough there in Mississippi. And at the same time, we're following what's happening in New Orleans, as well. You know, this is his first trip to the hurricane- ravaged Gulf Coast in three months for the president. So we'll take it live. Randal McCloy likely faces a long road to recovery. He of course is the sole survivor of the Sago Mine explosion that killed 12 of his fellow miners. The 26-year-old father of two is still in Morgantown, West Virginia hospital, in critical condition. Doctors say he has reached a stage where progress is slow. His family is with him and off-and-on, other visitors come through, too. Yesterday, it was country music superstar Hank Williams Jr. McCloy's wife mentioned earlier that he's one of her husband's favorite singers. And for those of you wanting to help the McCloys, well a word of warning from the FBI. Beware of an e-mail that asks for money to help with McCloy's medical bills. The author of the e-mail claims to be a physician at the hospital where McCloy is being treated. FBI agents say it's all a scam and they're working to track down whoever is behind it. I can't believe someone would do that in the first place. Anyway, Randal McCloy is the lone survivor of the Sago Mine disaster, remains in critical condition, as you know. And he's in a coma, but outside his hospital room, a feud has broken out between his brother Matt and rest of the family. CNN's Chris Huntington reports from Morgantown, West Virginia, a story first seen on "PAULA ZAHN NOW."</s>CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Randy McCloy's survival has brought this tightly-knit mining community its only bright light. Nothing but kind words, prayers for a swift recovery, hope, not blame.</s>TAMBRA FLINT, MINE SURVIVOR'S MOTHER: When you talk about things that he really loves to do or if his children are around, he's moving a lot more. You can just tell that he's aware.</s>HUNTINGTON: But in the pages of a supermarket tabloid, McCloy's brother, Matthew, has broken ranks with the rest of the family, lashing out and selling the paper this photo of Randy in intensive care.</s>MATTHEW MCCLOY, MINE SURVIVOR'S BROTHER: The world needs to be shocked because we need to have better laws to keep this from ever happening again to other miner's families.</s>HUNTINGTON: The rest of Randy's family members attacked "The National Enquirer" for preying on their misfortune. The family spokeswoman tells CNN that Randy's wife and mother are outraged at Matthew's public outburst and issued the following statement. "The family will not talk about a story from a tabloid newspaper nor are they interested in a discussion about these kinds of stories in those kinds of papers. The information was paid for by the tabloid paper in the amount of $800 and was done so without permission of Randy's wife, Anna."</s>M. MCCLOY: I took this picture of my brother because I love my brother, his family and Anna, and I believe they need to pass better laws and the government is being left in the dark about what's going on. And I believe that - I know it's a shocking picture.</s>HUNTINGTON: "The National Enquirer" confirms it paid Matthew McCloy $800 and says it will pay him an additional $1200.</s>PAUL FIELD, "NATIONAL ENQUIRER": Matthew felt very strongly about this sort of story we were planning and sort of investigation, the inquiries that we were making.</s>HUNTINGTON: Matthew tells the "Enquirer" that Randy complained of safety issues just days before the Sago Mine disaster when he found a pocket of potentially explosive methane gas trapped in a tunnel roof. The rest of McCloy's family would neither confirm nor deny those allegations. The mine company CEO had this to say.</s>BEN HATFIELD, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL COAL GROUP: I'm not aware of any such communication or complaint from Randal McCloy, but I can tell you from personally visiting his family that they've been very supportive of the company. Those are great people. They're praying hard for him to pull through.</s>HUNTINGTON (on-camera): Anna McCloy has made it clear all along her only real concern is her husband Randy's recovery and not media attention. We tried, unsuccessfully, to get in touch with Matthew McCloy. "The National Enquirer" tells CNN it has him locked up in an exclusive deal. Chris Huntington, CNN, Morgantown, West Virginia.</s>PHILLIPS: Straight to live pictures. Now in Mississippi, the governor you see, Haley Barbour made a short speech to introduce the president of the United States, as he now steps up to the mic to address residents and reporters.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Haley said it's protocol not to introduce the president. Well, shows what he knows about protocol. He just introduced me. Thanks for having me back. My first observation is it's good to see -- be able to look in people's eyes and not see them all bloodshot. I can remember coming here the times I came and looked hard in people's eyes and saw a sense of desperation and worry and deep, deep concern about the future. I'm sure there's still concern about the future, but the eyes have cleared up. There's a sense of optimism, there's a hope, there's a little bounce in people's step. I'm not surprised that people down here have shown incredible courage and I want to thank you for showing the rest of our country what it means to survive an incredible hardship with high spirits. Your governor has done a magnificent job. He went up to Washington -- you know it's nice of him to give me the credit to sign the bill, it's nice of him to compliment Congressman Taylor, who deserves to be complimented and -- Congressman Chip Pickering, both of whom are here. And I thank them for coming. It's wise of him to compliment Senators Lott and Senators Cochran and he's right to compliment them. But the truth of the matter is the person who deserves the biggest compliment in my judgment is the man who brought the will of the Mississippi people, the needs of the Mississippi people up to Washington, D.C. and fashioned one heck of a piece of legislation for the people of this important state. Thank you, Governor, for your hard work. And I want to thank Marsha for being here as well. I don't know how you put up with him for all these years. You must be a patient soul, but he married well just like me. And speaking about that, Laura sends her best wishes to all of you all. She's looking forward to coming back down here. She's not going to believe the difference between the last time she was here and today. It's hard sometimes unless you've got a perspective. I have the perspective of having spent some time here, but not all my time. And I can remember what was and now what is and I can see what's going to be, too. And it's going to be a better Gulf Coast of Mississippi.</s>PHILLIPS: We're going to go back to the president in just a moment, but I wanted to bring you some developing news on a story that we've been following here at CNN. We've been telling you about Governor Mark Warner out of Virginia. He has ordered DNA evidence to be retested to determine if this man, convicted of rape and murder, was innocent when he was executed back in 1992. We're talking about Roger Keith Coleman. Randi Kaye has been following this story for us. She joins on the phone from Richmond, Virginia. Do you have the results, Randi?</s>RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do, Kyra. Here in Richmond, we just got the word from Jim McCluskey. He has been fighting for Roger Coleman, has always believed in his innocent, was actually with him up until the moment that he was executed in 1992, and he just told us -- the word coming directly from him -- that the DNA did match, which means that Roger Coleman is considered guilty of raping and murdering his 19-year-old sister-in-law Wanda McCoy. So once again, Kyra, the DNA did match. It was being tested at a forensics lab in Toronto. The governor had ordered it a couple of months ago. He just wanted to put this for rest once and for all. His last day in office is tomorrow actually, and he just wanted the community to know. So this word comes from Roger Coleman's long-time friend and advocate, Jim McCluskey with the Centurion Ministries. And Roger Coleman's final words, Kyra, just before he was executed, he said "an innocent man is going to be murdered tonight. When my innocence is proven, I hope Americans will realize the injustices of the death penalty as all other civilized countries have." So those words certainly have a different meaning today. McCluskey just a few minutes ago confirming for us the DNA did match -- Kyra.</s>PHILLIPS: Randi, just a real quick question, a little background. Why did the governor -- were there people, for example, McCluskey and these other individuals that supported Roger Keith Coleman? Did they put -- were they just continuing to pressure the governor to have the evidence retested or was it something else that was pushing the governor to do this?</s>KAYE: Well, part of it -- it was Jim McCluskey from Centurion Ministries, completely, really. He had taken it to the Supreme Court and been denied. And he has been at the governor asking him and asking him and pushing him, and the governor was hesitant to do it, but finally, just a couple of months ago, did order the DNA to be tested at this Toronto lab. So it's really about him. It's also because DNA has -- the technology has changed so much and improved so much, that he thought we might get a new answer this time and he wanted to just put it to bed once and for all.</s>PHILLIPS: All right, Randi Kaye with us on the phone there from Richmond, Virginia. Randi, thank you so much. Now we want to take you back to the president of the United States, and continue to listen in as he addresses residents and reporters and various leaders there in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com