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CNN Live Saturday

Security is Tight in New Orleans

Aired February 02, 2002 - 12:49   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: With all the concern about keeping people safe and secure at these major events, is anybody having any fun yet?

CNN national correspondent Gary Tuchman went out to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the moonlit Mississippi, on the edge of the French Quarter, the solitude is quite misleading. The spirit of New Orleans is alive and well this Super Bowl week, despite security that even the most spirited reveler can tell is different and more apparent than ever before.

(on camera): Did you ever imagine you'd be on Bourbon Street during the Super Bowl in the middle of Mardi Gras protecting Americans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I would never have thought I'd be asked to do such a thing. But I am.

TUCHMAN: The security is elaborate. Unprecedented for a Super Bowl. It would be too much for many cities to handle. But this is the city known as The Big Easy, and people don't come here to take it easy.

(voice-over): The city of New Orleans agreed to pause Mardi Gras, which it already started, until after the Super Bowl, to help with the security effort. But there are no other overt signs of trying to reign in the fun.

CHRIS ROSE: This is the greatest show on earth this week. This is it. This is a celebrity and sports orgy like no other, and people like it here. We like that it's here. We think it should be here very year.

TUCHMAN: So do many of the Super Bowl tourists, like this Rams' fan, who says the security doesn't phase her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually like it. It's like this anywhere else you go in the world, so it might as well be here also, you know?

TUCHMAN (on camera): Does it stop you from having fun, though? Seeing all the cops and all the National Guardsmen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They'll never stop us from having fun.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): At the Acme (ph) Oyster Bar...

Hi, are you having fun?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. So far, we got in about two ours ago and we're waiting for the fun to start. But we're just getting warmed up.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The warm up doesn't take long. At the NFL experience, a football carnival especially for kids, the party atmosphere also lives on, despite the fact National Guard troops patrol the entrance.

But it's the French Quarter that's the heart and soul of New Orleans.

(on camera): Does the security intimidate you at all?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not at all.

TUCHMAN: Tell me why.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I like handcuffs.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The decadence and the frivolity live on.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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