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CNN Live Today

Mother Versus Mother; Hurricane Season Approaches

Aired May 09, 2005 - 11:31   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
A fire official says two people died and nearly three dozen were injured when a school bus crashed into two cars in Missouri this morning. Officials say the two fatalities were the drivers of the cars. They say the bus veered into the vehicles. Nearly all of the injured were elementary school students.

Columbus, Ohio prosecutors plan to retry accused freeway shooter Charles McCoy Jr. The panel could not agree whether McCoy should go to prison or to a mental hospital. He claims paranoid schizophrenia caused the crime spree.

And Senate leaders are still trying to work out a compromise on filibuster rules. Republicans threatening to ban the parliamentary taxing for judicial nominees. Today marks four years since the president sent his first judicial nominees to the Senate.

In Santa Maria, California, Michael Jackson's attorneys resume presenting their case this hour. Defense lawyers are trying to refute prosecutor's claims that Jackson has a history of molesting young boys. Actor Macaulay Culkin is expected to testify during this phase of the trial. It's not known exactly when he will take the stand.

Well, we go to North Carolina for this next story, where our preacher says it was all a big misunderstanding. In a sermon ahead of November's general election, Reverend Chan Chandler told congregates to vote for President Bush or they would have to leave the church. "Repent or resign" are the words used in the sermon, according to an audiotape provided to CNN, but church members disagree over what the pastor meant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do know that no one has been voted out of this church for politics or for any other reason at this point

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first sermon I've heard since October that politics wasn't mentioned in the pulpit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Nine members of the East Waynesville Baptist Church say they were expelled. Another 40 parishioners left in protest.

There's been a lot of attention lately on gay marriage and civil unions. But what happens to the children when a same-sex relationship ends? CNN's Maria Hinojosa takes a look at mother versus mother.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a storybook love affair. Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller were so committed to each other they moved from Virginia to Vermont to be as close to legally married as possible, a civil union.

JANET MILLER-JENKINS: Of course, we were ecstatic about that because we knew we wanted to be together. We knew that we wanted to have a future together, be married.

LISA MILLER-JENKINS: I was in the lifestyle for a while before I met Janet. And I still had always wanted a child.

HINOJOSA: This couple was so in love they legally changed their last names to Miller-Jenkins, so devoted they had the baby girl they both dreamed of, Isabella. Born to Lisa three years ago, they had plans for baby number two.

But storybook love affairs sometimes have unhappy endings. That is exactly what happened to these two mommies, when Janet and Lisa split. An ugly custody battle of mother versus mother broke out over little Isabella Miller-Jenkins.

J MILLER-JENKINS: Justice will be served for Isabella. I believe that. And I'll do whatever it takes. I'll be with her for as long as I can; or I'll be without her for as long as I have to, but I'm her mom. She's born here. She's always here.

L MILLER-JENKINS: I am Isabella's mom. I did conceive her. I birthed her. I'm raising her. And in my opinion, Isabella needs to stay with me 100 percent of the time, because I am the only person that she identifies as a mom.

HINOJOSA: Welcome to the unchartered legal territory of gay divorce. With varying marriage laws in every state, gay breakups can get really nasty.

After Lisa and Janet ended their civil union, Vermont ordered them to share custody of Isabella. So Lisa, her biological mother, moved the baby back to Virginia, where same-sex unions are not recognized. And Lisa took the confrontation one step further. She says she is no longer a lesbian.

L MILLER-JENKINS: I would say a sin is a sin. Whether it's stealing, whether it is homosexuality. And if it goes against God, as a Christian, I have every right -- not every right, but I need to follow God's teachings.

J. MILLER-JENKINS: She was married to a man. She left him for a woman. She's been with other women. She fell in love with me; wanted to have a family with me.

HINOJOSA: Lisa then hired a conservative, Southern law firm, the Liberty Council, and challenged the Vermont custody ruling. RENA LINDEVALDSEN, LIBERTY COUNSEL: She has the right as a mom to decide who her child sees and who it doesn't. And it's not the courts place to say, to make up, sort of an artificial family, when she only has one mom, and that's Lisa.

HINOJOSA: The state of Virginia refused to recognize Vermont's custody order, that Isabella should be shared by both Lisa and Janet.

L. MILLER-JENKINS: I wanted a clean slate. And the only way I could do that was to totally sever ties; that there would be no ties.

J. MILLER-JENKINS: This would not be happening if this was a heterosexual marriage with a divorce and custody.

HINOJOSA: Today, Janet runs a daycare center out of the home she once shared with Lisa and baby Isabella. The only traces of Isabella here are photographs, everywhere, in the kitchen, at Janet's desk, in the living room, where Isabella used to play.

J. MILLER-JENKINS: This is Isabella and her grandparents, my parents. I love Lisa. I have no malice towards her. And I absolutely love and adore Isabella.

HINOJOSA: In Virginia, Lisa also runs a daycare center. And is raising Isabella on her own. She never mentioned Janet's name.

L. MILLER-JENKINS: I do feel sorry for her. But again, I have to be concerned about the welfare of my daughter.

HINOJOSA: In Vermont, Michael Thornton entrusts Janet with his adopted children. He understands her situation.

MICHAEL THORNTON, FATHER OF ADOPTED CHILDREN: We're not the biological parents of our children, too. But if someone would say we couldn't see them because of that? You know, I just can't imagine what we would do.

HINOJOSA: Back in Virginia Lisa's conservative lawyers see this as a case of natural biology over what they call unnatural families.

LINDEVALDSEN: People need to care about this issue, because this issue's not going away and it's going to get bigger. There's going to -- this is a cultural battle that is ongoing and this is just the beginning.

HINOJOSA: This legal war between Janet and Lisa, Vermont and Virginia, continues but this is not a simple custody case. This is a fight over the definition of motherhood and family itself.

L. MILLER-JENKINS: A mom takes care of a child in more ways than just holding the child. Getting a picture taken with her. There is everything involved, feeding, bathing, and again, nursing for the first 14 months of life, constantly. She was never away from me, not even while sleeping.

J. MILLER-JENKINS: Isabella slept on my chest for the first year and a half of her life, because we did the family bed. Lisa would nurse her and then I would immediately take her and change her, walk her. She'd go to sleep on me. And then two hours later we'd do it all over again. That's a mother. That's me.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, Fairhaven, Vermont.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Other news to get to ahead. Are you prepared for the next hurricane? The season is just around the corner. I'm going to speak with the top man at the National Hurricane Center about what we can and should expect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Can you believe it, hurricane season is just three weeks away. Here we go again. Remember how awful last year was? Four hurricanes in six weeks in Florida. A new survey released this hour finds a surprising number of coastal residents still are not prepared for the storms. You're not going to believe some of these numbers.

Max Mayfield, you know his as the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, joining us.

Max, good morning

MAX MAYFIELD, DIR., NATL. HURRICANE CENTER: Good morning

KAGAN: I want to go ahead to right to the polls and see -- you must be shaking your heads at some of these numbers. First question, just go right to it -- first question, when would you begin to prepare your home for a hurricane? Nineteen percent saying when a watch is issued, 32 percent when a warning, 22 percent, your home is already prepared and could be secured within a few hours, but 26 percent saying they're not going to make any special preparations to their home, and then there's the 1 percent who just -- they just don't know.

After last year, what do you think about the numbers, Max?

MAYFIELD: Well, that's shocking. There's no other way to say that. I've been here 33 years, and we've been preaching preparedness and having individuals take that personal responsibility to develop their own hurricane plan. And actually 47 percent of the respondents said they really did not have a plan, even in this day and age here. So we need to do something about them. That's what this initiative is all about.

KAGAN: Let's go the next question: When would you evacuate during a hurricane? The respondents saying when a watch is issued. Ten percent saying when a warning is issued, 21 percent saying only if a category three or stronger was going to hit within the next 24 hours. And 42 percent saying if emergency-management officials ordered, only if they were forced, to evacuate, and almost 20 percent say probably never.

Max, if last season didn't teach some people in Florida some lessons, what's it going to take?

MAYFIELD: Well, that's not. It may not be quite as bad as it sounds there. I mean, we really do want people to heed the advice of the local officials. Some of those people in the polls may not have been in the evacuation area, so you can't...

KAGAN: Well, there is that.

MAYFIELD: You don't want to do too much.

But there's another question in there that does address this, and there is some -- there's a large percentage of people who say they will evacuate in the last 30 minutes to one hour before landfall. You can't do that. Those low-lying roads go underwater, you know, an hour before the center water gets on the coast.

KAGAN: You know, flooding is an interesting issue. Some of the myths out there. Another survey talking about four in 10 did not know that their stand home owner's policies do not ensure them against flooding during a hurricane.

MAYFIELD: And that's a big, big ticket item, you know. You can have a lot of damage from the flooding, whether the storm starts the flooding, or the inland fresh water flooding. And people really need to know that your basic insurance policy does not cover that.

KAGAN: Another poll, or question asking people what they thought would help get ready. They thought masking tape would do a fine job in holding glass together.

MAYFIELD: And that's a myth. The masking tape does actually nothing to protect you at all. You really need to have either, you know, shatter-resistant glass in those windows, or storm shutters to keep the wind out of your house. And you really don't. It's not just the fact that the wind gets in your house, those shutters on your windows and doors, you can think of them as a way to keep the roof on your house. Time and time again, people told us that the garage doors, or the windows or the doors blew in, and the next thing they know, the roof had blown off.

KAGAN: All right, Max, I'm going to say thank you, and do it quickly.

Max Mayfield from the National Hurricane Center, thank you.

Now we're going live to Tblisi, Georgia. The president and Mrs. Bush arriving there. This is their fourth stop in their four-day, four-nation trip. President Bush coming from Russia, where he has certainly made news with some of his comments. And in fact, the V-E celebration, the end of WWII that President Bush was at, was boycotted by several Soviet -- the leaders of several former Soviet republics, including the president of Georgia, President Mikhail Saakashvili. He backed out at the last minute of this last event where President Bush was. That was in protest to Russia's failure to live up to promises to withdraw troops from two bases that are still on Georgian soil. So President Bush coming there coming there to see the Georgian president. He will be there visiting with the president, also praising the Rose Revolution that led to the toppling of a discredited government back in 2003.

So President and Mrs. Bush in the Republic of Georgia. More on that visit later in the newscast. Also a thanks once again to Max Mayfield. Sorry we had to cut you off there for those live pictures.

We're going to find out what's coming up at the top of the hour of "NEWS FROM CNN," Wolf Blitzer.

Wolf, I'm sure you're going to have more on the president's visit overseas.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That's very interesting, Daryn. That president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, he's only 39 years old, speaks English very well. I spoke with him yesterday on "LATE EDITION." He's a graduate of a university in Georgia, but also studied at Columbia University, George Washington University, right here in Washington, very Americanized, very pro-democratic. He's got a tense relationship with Vladimir Putin right now, one of the reasons why President Bush decided to visit Georgia, bookending that visit to Russia. First going to Latvia, then going to Russia, winding up in Georgia.

As we're seeing these live pictures right now, the presidential limousine getting ready to take him to Tblisi, into the city of Tblisi, and to underscore support for the young democracy who is anxious to become a member of NATO. We're going to have a lot more on this coming up.

Also, we'll go behind the scenes, Daryn. The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, who's traveling with the president, our John King goes in depth with her. He speaks with her exclusively. They'll talk about North Korea, the John Bolton nomination, much more. This is something you will see only here on CNN.

Also, this hour, bullets fly during a police shootout, caught on tape in California. We'll go live and investigate what's going on. Those stories, much more coming up at the top of the hour on "NEWS FROM CNN."

Daryn, in the meantime, back to you.

One additional footnote, the defense minister of Georgia, get this, Daryn, he's only 31 years old

KAGAN: And what have you done lately, Wolf?

BLITZER: I've studied a lot about Georgia.

KAGAN: That's good.

We'll see new just a few minutes. Thank you.

We're going to head to the beach before we wrap up my program. Gulf Coast living. Wouldn't we all like to do some of that. More on that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Disturbing news and new pictures from just north of Chicago. The bodies of two young girls have been found in a park, in an area called Zion Park. These two girls, according to police, have been missing since yesterday. Their ages around seven or eight years old. Apparently someone walking through an area called Beulah (ph) Park, that's a nature area, found the bodies early this morning.

Investigators have -- are on the scene. The Lake County Crime Task Force has been called to Zion Park Police with the investigation. Also, they also have police dogs on the scene. Once again, the bodies of two young girls found in Zion Park just north of Chicago. And a local school nearby is in lockdown as a precaution. Much more on that, just ahead.

Hard transition, but do want to get away from it all. Talking sun and surf, getaway plans for plenty of vacationers this summer. If you're going to head to Florida or the Gulf Coast of Alabama, you need to know if last year's brutal hurricane season beat up your favorite beach.

Steve Millburg is a senior editor of "Coastal Living" magazine, has one of the best jobs in the country. He's joining me from Birmingham this morning. Good morning.

STEVE MILLBURG, "COASTAL LIVING": Good morning.

KAGAN: We definitely have hurricane on the brain here this morning. First of all, can you go?

MILLBURG: You can. You've heard of the South Beach diet. Well, Florida's beaches are on the hurricane beach diet. They're all a little skinnier than they used to be, but they're still there. The Florida Keys came through fine. Most of the West Coast of Florida came through fine. The Atlantic coast, in the middle of the coast, from about Daytona Beach southbound to Fort Pierce has a lot of beach erosion. But mostly the hotels, all of that, is still fine.

Where you get into problems is in the panhandle. And in the eastern panhandle, everything is fine until you get to about Destin and Fort Walton Beach. There you start getting hurricane damage. And there's a lot of damage still in Navarre Beach, Pensacola Beach, and then Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama.

KAGAN: Let's talk about some specific beaches that you think are good places to head. First, Siesta Key, Florida

MILLBURG: Siesta Key, Florida, off Sarasota. It's just a wonderful family beach. Great wide stretch of white sand, and mom and pop motels. Just a relaxed, kind of laid-back beach atmosphere

KAGAN: St. Joseph Peninsula State Park. Where is that?

MILLBURG: That's a real get away from it all. That's off Apalachicola in the Florida panhandle, not too far from Tallahassee. You got seven miles of wide, white sand beach. And you might not see anybody there.

KAGAN: I when the to St. George Island...

MILLBURG: It's just beautiful.

KAGAN: St. George Island?

MILLBURG: It's close to St. George. St. George is just east of that. One of the cool things about St. Joseph is that it faces West, so you get gorgeous sunsets.

KAGAN: Aw, right. Yes, it gets a little confusing for a West Coast girl when you're on the East Coast. I got that whole sunset thing...

MILLBURG: It does.

KAGAN: It's all mixed up there. A lot of beaches open, but there's some re-nourishment projects taking place. I've seen it happening in Florida in recent months.

MILLBURG: And that's good. The Alabama Gulf Coast has been renourishing since March, and they needed it because the beaches got eroded by the hurricanes. One thing, you do want to check to find out if there's a renourishment project going on, you know, during your week down at the beach. Because you probably don't want to be laying out while the bulldozers are smoothing sand around you. So, you know, just call and find out what's going on. And if the beach is just a backdrop, you know, if you like the coastal lifestyle, but not necessarily -- don't want to spend all that time on the beach, then you still may be fine.

KAGAN: Very good. I guess, number one thing, call ahead, make sure what you're looking for is waiting for you.

MILLBURG: That's right.

KAGAN: Very good. Well, enjoy the beach. I know you do. We share that in common...

MILLBURG: You, too. Yes.

KAGAN: Quite a bit.

MILLBURG: I do have a pretty cool job.

KAGAN: That's right. That you do. Steve Millburg from "Coastal Living" magazine, giving us some tips on if you're headed into kind of hurricane country there. Thank you so much.

MILLBURG: Thank you.

KAGAN: And on that note of the beach, I think that's a good way to wrap it up for me on this Monday morning. I'm Daryn Kagan, I'll be right back with you here tomorrow.

We're going to break. Wolf will be with you at the top of the hour.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired May 9, 2005 - 11:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
A fire official says two people died and nearly three dozen were injured when a school bus crashed into two cars in Missouri this morning. Officials say the two fatalities were the drivers of the cars. They say the bus veered into the vehicles. Nearly all of the injured were elementary school students.

Columbus, Ohio prosecutors plan to retry accused freeway shooter Charles McCoy Jr. The panel could not agree whether McCoy should go to prison or to a mental hospital. He claims paranoid schizophrenia caused the crime spree.

And Senate leaders are still trying to work out a compromise on filibuster rules. Republicans threatening to ban the parliamentary taxing for judicial nominees. Today marks four years since the president sent his first judicial nominees to the Senate.

In Santa Maria, California, Michael Jackson's attorneys resume presenting their case this hour. Defense lawyers are trying to refute prosecutor's claims that Jackson has a history of molesting young boys. Actor Macaulay Culkin is expected to testify during this phase of the trial. It's not known exactly when he will take the stand.

Well, we go to North Carolina for this next story, where our preacher says it was all a big misunderstanding. In a sermon ahead of November's general election, Reverend Chan Chandler told congregates to vote for President Bush or they would have to leave the church. "Repent or resign" are the words used in the sermon, according to an audiotape provided to CNN, but church members disagree over what the pastor meant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do know that no one has been voted out of this church for politics or for any other reason at this point

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first sermon I've heard since October that politics wasn't mentioned in the pulpit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Nine members of the East Waynesville Baptist Church say they were expelled. Another 40 parishioners left in protest.

There's been a lot of attention lately on gay marriage and civil unions. But what happens to the children when a same-sex relationship ends? CNN's Maria Hinojosa takes a look at mother versus mother.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a storybook love affair. Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller were so committed to each other they moved from Virginia to Vermont to be as close to legally married as possible, a civil union.

JANET MILLER-JENKINS: Of course, we were ecstatic about that because we knew we wanted to be together. We knew that we wanted to have a future together, be married.

LISA MILLER-JENKINS: I was in the lifestyle for a while before I met Janet. And I still had always wanted a child.

HINOJOSA: This couple was so in love they legally changed their last names to Miller-Jenkins, so devoted they had the baby girl they both dreamed of, Isabella. Born to Lisa three years ago, they had plans for baby number two.

But storybook love affairs sometimes have unhappy endings. That is exactly what happened to these two mommies, when Janet and Lisa split. An ugly custody battle of mother versus mother broke out over little Isabella Miller-Jenkins.

J MILLER-JENKINS: Justice will be served for Isabella. I believe that. And I'll do whatever it takes. I'll be with her for as long as I can; or I'll be without her for as long as I have to, but I'm her mom. She's born here. She's always here.

L MILLER-JENKINS: I am Isabella's mom. I did conceive her. I birthed her. I'm raising her. And in my opinion, Isabella needs to stay with me 100 percent of the time, because I am the only person that she identifies as a mom.

HINOJOSA: Welcome to the unchartered legal territory of gay divorce. With varying marriage laws in every state, gay breakups can get really nasty.

After Lisa and Janet ended their civil union, Vermont ordered them to share custody of Isabella. So Lisa, her biological mother, moved the baby back to Virginia, where same-sex unions are not recognized. And Lisa took the confrontation one step further. She says she is no longer a lesbian.

L MILLER-JENKINS: I would say a sin is a sin. Whether it's stealing, whether it is homosexuality. And if it goes against God, as a Christian, I have every right -- not every right, but I need to follow God's teachings.

J. MILLER-JENKINS: She was married to a man. She left him for a woman. She's been with other women. She fell in love with me; wanted to have a family with me.

HINOJOSA: Lisa then hired a conservative, Southern law firm, the Liberty Council, and challenged the Vermont custody ruling. RENA LINDEVALDSEN, LIBERTY COUNSEL: She has the right as a mom to decide who her child sees and who it doesn't. And it's not the courts place to say, to make up, sort of an artificial family, when she only has one mom, and that's Lisa.

HINOJOSA: The state of Virginia refused to recognize Vermont's custody order, that Isabella should be shared by both Lisa and Janet.

L. MILLER-JENKINS: I wanted a clean slate. And the only way I could do that was to totally sever ties; that there would be no ties.

J. MILLER-JENKINS: This would not be happening if this was a heterosexual marriage with a divorce and custody.

HINOJOSA: Today, Janet runs a daycare center out of the home she once shared with Lisa and baby Isabella. The only traces of Isabella here are photographs, everywhere, in the kitchen, at Janet's desk, in the living room, where Isabella used to play.

J. MILLER-JENKINS: This is Isabella and her grandparents, my parents. I love Lisa. I have no malice towards her. And I absolutely love and adore Isabella.

HINOJOSA: In Virginia, Lisa also runs a daycare center. And is raising Isabella on her own. She never mentioned Janet's name.

L. MILLER-JENKINS: I do feel sorry for her. But again, I have to be concerned about the welfare of my daughter.

HINOJOSA: In Vermont, Michael Thornton entrusts Janet with his adopted children. He understands her situation.

MICHAEL THORNTON, FATHER OF ADOPTED CHILDREN: We're not the biological parents of our children, too. But if someone would say we couldn't see them because of that? You know, I just can't imagine what we would do.

HINOJOSA: Back in Virginia Lisa's conservative lawyers see this as a case of natural biology over what they call unnatural families.

LINDEVALDSEN: People need to care about this issue, because this issue's not going away and it's going to get bigger. There's going to -- this is a cultural battle that is ongoing and this is just the beginning.

HINOJOSA: This legal war between Janet and Lisa, Vermont and Virginia, continues but this is not a simple custody case. This is a fight over the definition of motherhood and family itself.

L. MILLER-JENKINS: A mom takes care of a child in more ways than just holding the child. Getting a picture taken with her. There is everything involved, feeding, bathing, and again, nursing for the first 14 months of life, constantly. She was never away from me, not even while sleeping.

J. MILLER-JENKINS: Isabella slept on my chest for the first year and a half of her life, because we did the family bed. Lisa would nurse her and then I would immediately take her and change her, walk her. She'd go to sleep on me. And then two hours later we'd do it all over again. That's a mother. That's me.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, Fairhaven, Vermont.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Other news to get to ahead. Are you prepared for the next hurricane? The season is just around the corner. I'm going to speak with the top man at the National Hurricane Center about what we can and should expect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Can you believe it, hurricane season is just three weeks away. Here we go again. Remember how awful last year was? Four hurricanes in six weeks in Florida. A new survey released this hour finds a surprising number of coastal residents still are not prepared for the storms. You're not going to believe some of these numbers.

Max Mayfield, you know his as the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, joining us.

Max, good morning

MAX MAYFIELD, DIR., NATL. HURRICANE CENTER: Good morning

KAGAN: I want to go ahead to right to the polls and see -- you must be shaking your heads at some of these numbers. First question, just go right to it -- first question, when would you begin to prepare your home for a hurricane? Nineteen percent saying when a watch is issued, 32 percent when a warning, 22 percent, your home is already prepared and could be secured within a few hours, but 26 percent saying they're not going to make any special preparations to their home, and then there's the 1 percent who just -- they just don't know.

After last year, what do you think about the numbers, Max?

MAYFIELD: Well, that's shocking. There's no other way to say that. I've been here 33 years, and we've been preaching preparedness and having individuals take that personal responsibility to develop their own hurricane plan. And actually 47 percent of the respondents said they really did not have a plan, even in this day and age here. So we need to do something about them. That's what this initiative is all about.

KAGAN: Let's go the next question: When would you evacuate during a hurricane? The respondents saying when a watch is issued. Ten percent saying when a warning is issued, 21 percent saying only if a category three or stronger was going to hit within the next 24 hours. And 42 percent saying if emergency-management officials ordered, only if they were forced, to evacuate, and almost 20 percent say probably never.

Max, if last season didn't teach some people in Florida some lessons, what's it going to take?

MAYFIELD: Well, that's not. It may not be quite as bad as it sounds there. I mean, we really do want people to heed the advice of the local officials. Some of those people in the polls may not have been in the evacuation area, so you can't...

KAGAN: Well, there is that.

MAYFIELD: You don't want to do too much.

But there's another question in there that does address this, and there is some -- there's a large percentage of people who say they will evacuate in the last 30 minutes to one hour before landfall. You can't do that. Those low-lying roads go underwater, you know, an hour before the center water gets on the coast.

KAGAN: You know, flooding is an interesting issue. Some of the myths out there. Another survey talking about four in 10 did not know that their stand home owner's policies do not ensure them against flooding during a hurricane.

MAYFIELD: And that's a big, big ticket item, you know. You can have a lot of damage from the flooding, whether the storm starts the flooding, or the inland fresh water flooding. And people really need to know that your basic insurance policy does not cover that.

KAGAN: Another poll, or question asking people what they thought would help get ready. They thought masking tape would do a fine job in holding glass together.

MAYFIELD: And that's a myth. The masking tape does actually nothing to protect you at all. You really need to have either, you know, shatter-resistant glass in those windows, or storm shutters to keep the wind out of your house. And you really don't. It's not just the fact that the wind gets in your house, those shutters on your windows and doors, you can think of them as a way to keep the roof on your house. Time and time again, people told us that the garage doors, or the windows or the doors blew in, and the next thing they know, the roof had blown off.

KAGAN: All right, Max, I'm going to say thank you, and do it quickly.

Max Mayfield from the National Hurricane Center, thank you.

Now we're going live to Tblisi, Georgia. The president and Mrs. Bush arriving there. This is their fourth stop in their four-day, four-nation trip. President Bush coming from Russia, where he has certainly made news with some of his comments. And in fact, the V-E celebration, the end of WWII that President Bush was at, was boycotted by several Soviet -- the leaders of several former Soviet republics, including the president of Georgia, President Mikhail Saakashvili. He backed out at the last minute of this last event where President Bush was. That was in protest to Russia's failure to live up to promises to withdraw troops from two bases that are still on Georgian soil. So President Bush coming there coming there to see the Georgian president. He will be there visiting with the president, also praising the Rose Revolution that led to the toppling of a discredited government back in 2003.

So President and Mrs. Bush in the Republic of Georgia. More on that visit later in the newscast. Also a thanks once again to Max Mayfield. Sorry we had to cut you off there for those live pictures.

We're going to find out what's coming up at the top of the hour of "NEWS FROM CNN," Wolf Blitzer.

Wolf, I'm sure you're going to have more on the president's visit overseas.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That's very interesting, Daryn. That president of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili, he's only 39 years old, speaks English very well. I spoke with him yesterday on "LATE EDITION." He's a graduate of a university in Georgia, but also studied at Columbia University, George Washington University, right here in Washington, very Americanized, very pro-democratic. He's got a tense relationship with Vladimir Putin right now, one of the reasons why President Bush decided to visit Georgia, bookending that visit to Russia. First going to Latvia, then going to Russia, winding up in Georgia.

As we're seeing these live pictures right now, the presidential limousine getting ready to take him to Tblisi, into the city of Tblisi, and to underscore support for the young democracy who is anxious to become a member of NATO. We're going to have a lot more on this coming up.

Also, we'll go behind the scenes, Daryn. The secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, who's traveling with the president, our John King goes in depth with her. He speaks with her exclusively. They'll talk about North Korea, the John Bolton nomination, much more. This is something you will see only here on CNN.

Also, this hour, bullets fly during a police shootout, caught on tape in California. We'll go live and investigate what's going on. Those stories, much more coming up at the top of the hour on "NEWS FROM CNN."

Daryn, in the meantime, back to you.

One additional footnote, the defense minister of Georgia, get this, Daryn, he's only 31 years old

KAGAN: And what have you done lately, Wolf?

BLITZER: I've studied a lot about Georgia.

KAGAN: That's good.

We'll see new just a few minutes. Thank you.

We're going to head to the beach before we wrap up my program. Gulf Coast living. Wouldn't we all like to do some of that. More on that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Disturbing news and new pictures from just north of Chicago. The bodies of two young girls have been found in a park, in an area called Zion Park. These two girls, according to police, have been missing since yesterday. Their ages around seven or eight years old. Apparently someone walking through an area called Beulah (ph) Park, that's a nature area, found the bodies early this morning.

Investigators have -- are on the scene. The Lake County Crime Task Force has been called to Zion Park Police with the investigation. Also, they also have police dogs on the scene. Once again, the bodies of two young girls found in Zion Park just north of Chicago. And a local school nearby is in lockdown as a precaution. Much more on that, just ahead.

Hard transition, but do want to get away from it all. Talking sun and surf, getaway plans for plenty of vacationers this summer. If you're going to head to Florida or the Gulf Coast of Alabama, you need to know if last year's brutal hurricane season beat up your favorite beach.

Steve Millburg is a senior editor of "Coastal Living" magazine, has one of the best jobs in the country. He's joining me from Birmingham this morning. Good morning.

STEVE MILLBURG, "COASTAL LIVING": Good morning.

KAGAN: We definitely have hurricane on the brain here this morning. First of all, can you go?

MILLBURG: You can. You've heard of the South Beach diet. Well, Florida's beaches are on the hurricane beach diet. They're all a little skinnier than they used to be, but they're still there. The Florida Keys came through fine. Most of the West Coast of Florida came through fine. The Atlantic coast, in the middle of the coast, from about Daytona Beach southbound to Fort Pierce has a lot of beach erosion. But mostly the hotels, all of that, is still fine.

Where you get into problems is in the panhandle. And in the eastern panhandle, everything is fine until you get to about Destin and Fort Walton Beach. There you start getting hurricane damage. And there's a lot of damage still in Navarre Beach, Pensacola Beach, and then Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama.

KAGAN: Let's talk about some specific beaches that you think are good places to head. First, Siesta Key, Florida

MILLBURG: Siesta Key, Florida, off Sarasota. It's just a wonderful family beach. Great wide stretch of white sand, and mom and pop motels. Just a relaxed, kind of laid-back beach atmosphere

KAGAN: St. Joseph Peninsula State Park. Where is that?

MILLBURG: That's a real get away from it all. That's off Apalachicola in the Florida panhandle, not too far from Tallahassee. You got seven miles of wide, white sand beach. And you might not see anybody there.

KAGAN: I when the to St. George Island...

MILLBURG: It's just beautiful.

KAGAN: St. George Island?

MILLBURG: It's close to St. George. St. George is just east of that. One of the cool things about St. Joseph is that it faces West, so you get gorgeous sunsets.

KAGAN: Aw, right. Yes, it gets a little confusing for a West Coast girl when you're on the East Coast. I got that whole sunset thing...

MILLBURG: It does.

KAGAN: It's all mixed up there. A lot of beaches open, but there's some re-nourishment projects taking place. I've seen it happening in Florida in recent months.

MILLBURG: And that's good. The Alabama Gulf Coast has been renourishing since March, and they needed it because the beaches got eroded by the hurricanes. One thing, you do want to check to find out if there's a renourishment project going on, you know, during your week down at the beach. Because you probably don't want to be laying out while the bulldozers are smoothing sand around you. So, you know, just call and find out what's going on. And if the beach is just a backdrop, you know, if you like the coastal lifestyle, but not necessarily -- don't want to spend all that time on the beach, then you still may be fine.

KAGAN: Very good. I guess, number one thing, call ahead, make sure what you're looking for is waiting for you.

MILLBURG: That's right.

KAGAN: Very good. Well, enjoy the beach. I know you do. We share that in common...

MILLBURG: You, too. Yes.

KAGAN: Quite a bit.

MILLBURG: I do have a pretty cool job.

KAGAN: That's right. That you do. Steve Millburg from "Coastal Living" magazine, giving us some tips on if you're headed into kind of hurricane country there. Thank you so much.

MILLBURG: Thank you.

KAGAN: And on that note of the beach, I think that's a good way to wrap it up for me on this Monday morning. I'm Daryn Kagan, I'll be right back with you here tomorrow.

We're going to break. Wolf will be with you at the top of the hour.

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