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Relief has Reached Devastated Communities Along Mississippi's Coastline; President Bush Visiting Devastated Gulfport Region Again

Aired September 05, 2005 - 10:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's a live picture from the skies just above Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That is Air Force One. The president and Mrs. Bush are on board. They are there to do another visit to the devastated Gulfport region. Once they're in Gulfport, they will go over to Papalu (ph), Mississippi, and check the Cole River Community College and get a look at the devastation. They had back to Washington today.
We are coming up on the half hour. In fact, we're right at the half hour. Good morning once again on this Labor Day morning. I'm Daryn Kagan.

A mission critical update for you now. Federal officials say that a disturbing number of people in New Orleans refuse to abandon their homes. Those people are being urged to leave for their own safety.

Police say officers in New Orleans shot a group of gunmen who were firing at contractors crossing a bridge in New Orleans.

More food and more water is arriving along the Gulf Coast. So far in Louisiana alone, 620,000 bottles of water have been delivered to distribution centers, along with 320,000 meals.

As the water is receding from New Orleans, the grim task of recovering bodies has begun. Many officials now predict the death toll will climb into the thousands.

And engineers continue to make repairs to New Orleans damaged levees. The Army Corps estimates that it could take as long as 80 days to drain that city.

Relief has reached devastated communities along Mississippi's coastline. Finally, more than 17,000 residents have since been displaced. And for those that are still in their homes, it might be a month or more before any of them have electricity.

Our Ted Rowlands is in Biloxi, Mississippi, where Katrina also wiped out the city's lucrative casino businesses. Good morning.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. And help is on the way. It may be a month or more before they get electricity. It is going to be months and months, possibly years before these people have their homes back because of the sheer devastation along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Today, we are seeing the first signs of military - active military relief. And they have come on shore. They spent the night on an island out here, Navy personnel off a USS Iwojima. They're onshore now. And we just talked to somebody there. They say they are here to do anything.

They're bringing in heavy equipment to get rid of some of this rubble. And the rubble is everywhere. They're coming in on hover crafts. They're LCACs (ph) is what they call them. And they're ferrying in supplies and personnel.

Right now, they're actually going to pick up some cooks, some Navy cooks that are going to come to Biloxi High School and start helping with the need, the ongoing need of serving meals to people that have been displaced here in Biloxi. And this is taking place in different ways along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. There are church organizations that are serving meals.

We talked to someone this morning in Gulfport that - they say they're now serving 10,000 meals a day. The problem here is beginning to sink in for people that live here. The numbness is wearing off.

And now the questions, the hard questions of where are we going, what are we going to do, how long can we live with relatives out of state, and how do we tend to our daily needs, and how do we tend to the rebuilding process? It is a daunting task with many personal decisions that need to be made about children, schools, and relocation. And people are just starting now to comprehend the enormity of all this.

They are getting help, though, from the government and now from the Armed forces. Daryn?

KAGAN: Ted Rowlands live in Biloxi, Mississippi. Thank you for that.

And we have split our screen, keeping our eye on Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That, of course, is Air Force One arriving. President Bush, Mrs. Bush on board. President Bush here for yet another visit. It would mark his second visit to the region in the last three days.

Now we'll see more from Baton Rouge as the president disembarks from the plane.

Many hurricane victims showing up for church yesterday. In towns across the Gulf coast, many buildings are gone but communities gathered to pray on the spots where they once stood. Here at St. Mark's of Gulfport, Mississippi, parishioners paused to remember what was lost and gave thanks for their lives. And they vowed to rebuild.

Under a steady rainfall, residents of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana began returning to their neighborhoods today. They do have a dusk to down curfew, which is in effect. And parish president Aaron Broussard recommended women should not go into this neighborhood alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) AARON BROUSSARD, PRESIDENT, JEFFERSON PARISH: Hopefully everything will be fine, but I'm skeptical. I don't know, you know.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You think it was a good idea to let Jefferson Parish residents come in for a day?

BROUSSARD: Yes. I mean, people - they're worried about their stuff. They don't know what's happening. At least to get in and get an idea of what's going on. They really need that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we've been mobilizing, the three of us that traveled in together. And we're definitely going to try to take out as much as we can and paperwork and needy stuff. And then go on. And I don't know what we're going to do. I'm a business owner here, so it's up in the air right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: And once again, we continue to watch those live pictures from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Air force One arriving there. We should see President and Mrs. Bush getting off the plane at any moment.

Meanwhile, the pace of hurricane relief efforts has picked up since Lieutenant General Russel Honore took charge of that operation late last week. The operation is based at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Honore, though, is spending most of his time in the devastated city of New Orleans. More on that now from our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. COL. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY: Put those weapons down, damn it. Swing them.

(APPLAUSE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They cheer a man they don't even know. Lieutenant General Russel Honore is one of them, a Louisiana native, known inside the Army as the Ragin' Cajun. He is using his sheer will barking orders.

HONORE: Put that weapon down on your back. You're delivering food.

STARR: Tolerating no excuses to make the military's relief efforts, which he commands, happen quickly. We followed him on one of his 20-hour days through New Orleans. At the Superdome, he meets with his planners, who have set up shop just steps away from hundreds of dazed victims living in miserable conditions.

On this day, the general is determined to get a huge relief convoy into the city. The troops and trucks begin to appear. He watches from his command perch, a street corner.

As you can see, there's helicopters in every direction. There's trucks flowing in. There are men here ready to issue the food. We're on it. It just took time.

STARR: This three-star commander waving helicopters in himself, going street by street to assess relief needs. He is already deeply upset at those who say the military response has been too slow.

So you've been able to make this happen pretty quickly?

HONORE: Well, according to some people, not quick enough, obviously. But it's coming together.

STARR: Honore clearly has the trust of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who has criticized much of the federal government, but calls him a John Wayne sort of guy.

There is a moment when being a three-star commander means you can save some tiny lives. He stops to help a young mother, a baby in each arm.

HONORE: Here, Tiger. Here, Tiger. Let's go. Come on.

STARR: He picks up another baby and mother off the street. The general commandeers transportation to a Coast Guard ship that has medical help. He tries to explain why this time he had to stop and help.

HONORE: I think the reading was in their face. It was one of -- one to do something for their babies and couldn't. And we're going to take care of that right now.

STARR: For the Ragin' Cajun, this one-man baby lift, as vital as the effort to save thousands.

HONORE: We're going to fix it one at a time if we have to.

STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And we have a lot of development taking place all at the same time today. The live picture we're keeping up on your screen, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. President and Mrs. Bush are arriving there. President Bush's second visit in the last three days to the devastated region.

Much more on that ahead.

Also on the nomination of John Roberts as chief justice of the United States. What that does, the confirmation process, and who will now take the place of Sandra Day O'Connor. We're looking at that just ahead.

And then coming up next, we check in with our relief desk. What your -- how your calls are being answered. The U.S. Coast Guard is now getting involved. We will explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAGAN: Live pictures from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Waiting for President Bush to -- looks like that might be him in the green shirt. Yes. And Mrs. Bush is with him as well. This is the president's second visit to the region in the last three days. Once again, it's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Our Deb Feyerick is there as well.

Deborah, a little bit of controversy developing this morning over the governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco, and whether or not she was going to be there to greet the president.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely. But don't think that it was the governor's office snubbing the president. It was very much the other way around. And I don't have the pictures of him coming down the steps. You do. I'll be very curious to see how he reacts to her.

She did go to the airport early this morning. Her office was not even told about this visit until 6:00 in the morning. And the reason she found out is because a member of her staff actually called Andy Card at the White House and said is the president of the United States on his way to the region?

The governor's office was told yes. She got in a car. She's there to meet him now. All of this because of who is supposed to be in command, who's supposed to be in charge.

The White House wanted to nationalize the federal guard. The governor said no way, can't do that. It's just going to be to too complicated in terms of doing law enforcement in the streets of New Orleans, where all those bad situations were going on. So she maintained control over the National Guard. That did not make the White House happy.

We are using - we are hearing words out here like the governor's office was being strong armed. They were being given an ultimatum. The White House was playing hard ball.

But the governor refused to sign a document which would have effectively turned over the power she has to control the National Guard over to the White House. She thought that she would be cut out and effectively serving as an employee of the president.

She did not want to do this because of the scope of this tragedy and because she wants to make sure she is actively watching out for the citizens of Louisiana and what their needs are -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Yeah, Deborah, we can see the pictures. And it's kind of at a funny angle. But what we see is President Bush getting into a suburban, followed by the Reverend T.D. Jakes. From what we can see by the angle of the camera, no sign of Governor Blanco there right at the steps of Air Force One to meet the president. So we'll have to see...

FEYERICK: And she changed her plans.

KAGAN: Go ahead. FEYERICK: And Daryn, because she didn't know, she was actually supposed to go to a shelter in Houston. And we were standing by over in Houston so that we could be there when she arrived.

But again, this morning, well the moment she found out that the president was coming here, she wanted to make herself available. So there is tension between the organizations.

And part of the problem, the White House was saying in their words that the governor did not want this issue to be politicized. That is, who was in place, when were they in place. If she's in charge of state and local, and the president's in charge of national, who's running what? So that was one of the other things.

As you can see, a lot of helicopters just here flying in and out now that the federal government is here on location and a massive build-up here. We can tell you even in just the last week, so many more people have flooded into this region.

You have people from the ATF, the Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms. We have FBI. They were here very quickly, actually. They also had U.S. Marshals, federal protective services. Just a lot of different agencies. Thousands of people who are helping in this response. Daryn?

KAGAN: Deborah Feyerick in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, thank you.

President Bush will be visiting Mississippi as well, and then heading back to the White House this evening along with Mrs. Bush.

A lot of other news, especially concerning the Supreme Court. And John Roberts now become changed from being the replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor. He now will be the nominee to replace Chief Justice William Rehnquist. We'll have more on that story and how it plays into today's developments. And we'll get to that after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: And there are developments on the next phase of the U.S. Supreme Court. First of all, funeral services are now scheduled for Wednesday for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He died of cancer on Saturday night.

Rehnquist's death creates a second vacancy on the court and the opportunity of a lifetime for a former clerk, who's now been nominated as his replacement.

Our congressional correspondent Joe Johns has the latest on the change of plans for John Roberts. Good morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. The White House moving very quickly today to try to bring some certainty to the situation on the nation's highest court. Telephone calls going out bright and early to some of the top leaders in the United States Senate. Andy Card, we're told, calling House Democratic leader Harry Reed, among others. We also hear that Senator Arlen Specter, the chairman of the judiciary committee getting a call bright and early as well. And then the announcement from the White House the president standing there, of course, with Judge Roberts, who was only there a few weeks ago for his first nomination. Let's listen in part to what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In his extraordinary career, Judge Roberts has argued 39 cases before the nation's highest court. When I nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, he was confirmed by unanimous consent.

Both those who've worked with him and those who have faced him in the courtroom speak with admiration of his striking ability as a lawyer and his natural gifts as a leader.

Judge Roberts has earned the nation's confidence. And I'm pleased to announce that I will nominate him to serve as the 17th chief justice of the Supreme Court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Of course, presuming he gets confirmed, the president gets a lot from nominating Roberts. Number one, he gets someone who is young by court standards and who could affect the direction of the court, frankly, for decades to come.

He also gets someone who has emerged, if you will, from the vetting process so far as reliably conservative. As well he gets someone that many people say will be easily confirmed.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reed put out a statement earlier this morning, saying in part now that the president has said he will nominate Judge Roberts as chief justice. "The stakes are higher and the Senate's advice and consent responsibility is even more important."

If confirmed to this lifetime job, Judge Roberts would become the leader of the third branch of the federal government and the most prominent judge in the nation. The Senate, he said, must be vigilant.

Of course, the question right now is, whether those confirmation hearings that were already set to begin tomorrow will go off on schedule, or if they will slip perhaps even a week. Some suggestion, both ways a lot of political calculus going into this, including the question of if you give more time for this nomination hearing and confirmation to come off, won't that give the opposition more time to try to prepare and to raise issues about Roberts?

Daryn, back to you.

KAGAN: Well, and then there's this other interesting development. So he is no - if John Roberts is no longer the nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, that seat's open. And we get this little interesting tidbit from reporters on board Air Force One this morning. As President Bush flew down to Baton Rouge, apparently he called Sandra Day O'Connor. And she had not heard the news that he was going to make the switch. So she learns this from the president this morning.

He did assure Sandra Day O'Connor that he would move quickly to name a replacement for her. In her replacement letter, she said she's willing to stay on the job until there is a replacement for her. So she might have a little bit more work ahead of her than she had originally planned on.

JOHNS: Certainly that is possible, but it does create complications.

For example, if she were on the court at the beginning of the new term, then there's always that possibility she'd be in on the planning stages of certain cases that she might not even be able to hear and decide on later down the road.

So there's a short list, of course, that was already out. We're told the White House is going back to that list of possible people who would be named to succeed her on the court, including, of course, Alberto Gonzales, Edith Clemen is another name, Harvey Wilkinson. A variety of names out there of other judges who might be able to ascend to the high court, Daryn.

KAGAN: We'll be talking a lot more about that as the day goes on. Joe Johns, thank you so much for that.

Up next this morning, we're talking about how you can help and how that help is finally reaching those in need. Stay with us. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Want to get back to one of the more encouraging signs of our coverage. Last week, we introduced you to CNN's victim and relief desk. It's an electronic hub devoted to connecting Katrina's displaced evacuees with their loved ones that are so desperate to find them.

Here now, CNN's Fredricka Whitfield. Hi, Fred.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you, Daryn. Well, here a the victims and relief desk, we're still getting dozens of e- mails about people who are stranded or missing. But remarkably, we're also hearing from people who are OK or who have been found.

We told you about Leo Williams on Saturday. The 30-year old was reporting missing in New Orleans. Well today, we have mixed news on his story. His mother tells us Leo has been found, but Leo's son and the little boy's mother are still missing. Leo, the father, is in a shelter in Rainey, Louisiana. If you have any pertinent information, you can contact Leo's mother, Vanessa Windley. Or you can contact www.redcross.org or dial 1-877-LOVED-ONES. That's the digit 1 with an "s." Now there are people still stranded in their homes. The Coast Guard has rescued many in the last 72 hours. To talk more about these rescues and how teams are going about it, we're joined by Captain Frank Paskewich.

And Captain, we have seen over the past few days that there's been sort of a random search, a flyover and then a cable would be lowered. Are you going about it that way now? Or is it grid by grid?

CAPT. FRANK PASKEWICH, U.S. COAST GUARD: Good morning. We continue certainly with our massive search and rescue operation. To date, as of this morning, we've rescued about 18,000 people. 7,000 by air and about 11,000 by boat.

We continue with our operation, both by air and by boat.

WHITFIELD: And I understand you're also being contacted by a number of friends and family. Is their information helping you in any way to locate people who are still in their homes?

PASKEWICH: Absolutely. Once calls are received by the Louisiana State police, it goes into a database and is routed to our search and rescue coordinators, who are located in Baton Rouge.

From there, those addresses are forwarded to our boat forces on the ground. And then the addresses also converted into a latitude and longitude and sent to our air station for possible air evacuation.

On the ground, there's numerous, numerous small boats where Louisiana Fish and Wildlife, Urban Search and Rescue, and Coast Guard small boats are dispatched.

WHITFIELD: And once folks maybe put into the boats that you're talking about, or even hoisted into the helicopters, are they administered immediate first aid or given water? Anything of the like before they get back on the ground?

PASKEWICH: Absolutely. Our aircraft are equipped with water. And our small boats have water as well. We try to give them - assess them as quickly as possible and get them into the hands of professionals.

WHITFIELD: And captain, before I let you go, this is a dangerous and very exhausting mission for many of your crews, which are taking under this huge, colossal task. How do you go about making or reassuring their safety, as you're lowering cables. You're talking about cable lines and all kinds of obstacles in the way?

PASKEWICH: You couldn't be more correct. Our crews are doing just a fantastic job. And we do our best to try to keep them well rested and hydrated properly, and to continue with enough crews on scene, so that they can turn over and be fresh as they carry out this very arduous work.

WHITFIELD: All right, Captain Frank Paskewich, thanks so much for the work that you're doing and continued safety and luck on your mission.

PASKEWICH: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: Daryn?

KAGAN: Fredricka, thank you.

Well, we have seen all the pictures, thousands stranded, homeless and sick. But to some, the pictures coming out of New Orleans showcase more than just the aftermath of a natural disaster. To some, they are proof of racism or classism.

Ahead, I'm going to speak with the Reverend Jesse Jackson, as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

We're turning to see what is left behind after Katrina. Residents of a Louisiana parish get to go home for the first time since the storm hit.

A steady stream of calls carrying people back into Jefferson Parish this morning. Officials are urging them to survey the damage, salvage what they can, and then get out once again.

The other major story we're following, the future of the U.S. Supreme Court. President Bush moves quickly to fill the vacancy left behind by the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist. This morning, he nominated Judge John Roberts to succeed Rehnquist.

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