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High Court Nominee; Tourism in Lake Charles; FEMA To Open Temporary Housing; Minding Your Business

Aired October 04, 2005 - 07:30   ET

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

ROB MARCIANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Across the Gulf States that were affected by Rita and Katrina. Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Calcasieu Parish, Southwest Louisiana, bearing the brunt of Hurricanes Rita about 12 days ago.
Good news out of Lake Charles this morning, there are sections of town that are starting to pop on with life. So folks beginning to feel a little bit optimism there.

The lake behind me is lined with river boat casinos. It's a big business here in Lake Charles for tourism and the local economy. And as you would imagine, they are shut down right now. So we will talk with a tourism expert, a person that runs the visitor's bureau, to see where we stand. Get a progress report and maybe when this place will be up and running again. That's later this half hour.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Rob, hopefully pretty soon. Thanks a lot. We'll check in with you again.

Time to get a check of the headlines with Carol Costello.

Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Good morning to all of you.

"Now in the News."

A car bombing near Baghdad's green zone. We just got these pictures in about an hour ago. You can see heavy smoke rising from this area. Iraqi police say at least two Iraqi soldiers are dead, four others are hurt. This attack comes as the U.S. military is launching two new offensive in the Al Anbar region west of Baghdad. About 2,500 U.S. forces are involved in Operation River Gate. Some 500 U.S. service members are also taking part in another offensive being dubbed Operation Mountaineers. Both operations backed by Iraqi forces.

Texas Representative Tom DeLay is calling a new charge against him, "an abomination of justice and a legal attempt at a do-over." A Texas grand jury indicted DeLay Monday on a money laundering charge. The indictment coming hours after attorneys for the former House majority leader attacked last week's indictment on technical grounds. DeLay had been charged in a state campaign finance probe. He denies any wrongdoing.

Officials in New York state have temporarily suspended the operating licenses for Shoreline Cruises. That's the company under investigation after one of its tour boat rolled over and sank killing 20 people on board this past weekend. Authorities say only one crew member was aboard the boat at the time of the incident. State regulations would have required at least two.

Entertainer Nipsey Russell has died. Remember Nipsey Russell? He was a fixture on TV variety and game shows. He earned the nickname "the poet laureate of television." In 1978 he starred along side Diana Ross and Michael Jackson as the tin man in "The Wiz." I remember him on "Hollywood Squares," Nipsey Russell. He was funny.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Come on and ease on down, ease on down . . .

COSTELLO: Exactly.

Nipsey Russell died of cancer Sunday in New York. He was 80 years old.

And former President Clinton heading to the hurricane battered Gulf Coast region to see where the money is needed most. He'll be meeting with officials and talking with survivors over the next two days. The trip will take him to parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Some $100 million has been raised by former President Clinton and former President Bush for Katrina relief.

No small potatoes, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, they're going to need a lot more than that, though, I'll tell you what. You just need to empty your pocket, I'm afraid, for those folks down there. They're in a lot worse way than all of us up here.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Political news now.

Cautious perhaps best describing the reaction of conservative lawmakers to President Bush's nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. His choice, Harriet Miers, surprised some who thought he would nominate someone with a clear conservative record. Joining us this morning from Washington, D.C. is counselor to the president, Dan Bartlett.

Dan, nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us.

DAN BARTLETT, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT BUSH: No problem, Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Here's what conservative Bill Kristal had to say, cronyism and capitulation. That was his reaction. Does he have a point there?

BARTLETT: No, actually he doesn't. What Bill Kristol and other people will soon learn about Harriet Miers is, not only does she have a distinguished legal career in which she really was a trail-blazer in Texas, going up through the Texas courtrooms and becoming one of the most distinguished attorneys in that state. And that's why she's been ranked as one of the top attorneys in the entire nation.

And what Bill Kristol and other people will learn is that Harriet Miers shares the president's judicial philosophy. She has helped the president over the last five years pick some of the justices that are serving on the benches at both the applet level and the Supreme Court now and Chief Justice John Roberts. And what they will learn is that Harriet Miers very much understands, as President Bush understands, that the role of the judiciary is not to create laws from the bench but to strictly interpret the Constitution.

So as the weeks unfold and people see what President Bush has seen for the last 10 years, this is somebody who's not only highly qualified to be a Supreme Court justice, but somebody who has the integrity, intellect and character to be a very well accomplished Supreme Court justice.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Well, we've certainly heard the word trail- blazing when it comes to Harriet Miers. Certainly top attorney as well. But there are people who say, well, qualification wise, she's never been a judge. She has no experience. And also no records when it comes to hearing what she thinks about certain issues, important issues that will shape our nation's future, she doesn't have anything to say on record.

BARTLETT: Well, Soledad, you know, about a third of the Supreme Court justices during the modern era did not have any judicial experience. The late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, for that matter, was not a judge when he was chosen to serve on the court back in 1972. So there is a track record of presidents picking people who do not have judicial experience.

And, quite frankly, we think that's important to bring that type of diversity to the bench. A lot of the people who are serving currently on the bench were judges. I think it's important, the president thinks it's important that they may we ought to bring somebody who has a different experience. One who has litigated dozens upon dozens of time in both the federal and the state courts. The kind that brings a different perspective to the law that can only add to and be a real rich contribution to the current bench that is sitting and hearing cases.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: There's been lots of analysts today that has said that Harriet Miers was the easy choice. Sort of the easy road for the president to pick. I'm going to read you what Charles Cook, the editor of "The Cook Political Report," which I know you're familiar with, had to say.

" The swagger is gone from this White House," he writes. "They know they have horrible problems and they cam up with the least risky move they could make."

You're laughing. Why? BARTLETT: Well, because I bet seven weeks from now when there is a pitched battle in which all the groups are attacking and people were saying that. We knew any pick to the Supreme Court is a very difficult choice. It's one that will get a lot of scrutiny.

And the question that the president had to answer to himself was, is this person qualified? Does this person have the type of character and integrity and philosophical outlook on the judiciary that he shares? And what we'll see at the end of this process that not only does Harriet Miers have the qualifications, she's going to prove to the United States Senate and to the American people that she has the type of judicial outlook that the American people want in their judges.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: What's the message for conservatives, many of whom are very disappointed, frankly, in the choice of Harriet Miers? What do you tell them who felt the president, whom they support, would have gone with a more conservative choice?

BARTLETT: Well, all you have to look at is the president's track record. He has put forward over the last five years well qualified, judicial picks who share his philosophy of the judiciary. Harriet Miers follows in that tradition. In fact, she has helped select the very people who are serving on the bench at both the appellate level and now at the Supreme Court level.

So all you have to look at is President Bush's record, look at her career. And the fact that she is serving the president in the capacity that she is. And you will find somebody who shares his philosophy, who understands that we shouldn't be writing laws from the bench but as Chief Justice Roberts famously said, calling balls and strikes. And that is exactly what she will do if she's confirmed.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: When it comes to a hearing, of course, a lot of what her experience is in it would be privileged material, especially conversations not only with the president but any other client that she's had. Do you perceive a problem here?

BARTLETT: Well, this is something that's come up in past nominations. And it's important that there are some relationships in our society that we hold as sacred, the doctor/patient relationship, the relationship, obviously, between a husband and a wife, between a priest and a confessor. That's also the case for an attorney and their client. And it's critically important that we don't violate that protection.

There will be plenty of information for the United States Senate to use as they make their own determination to confirm Harriet Miers. That's why we have a hearing process. They can look over a legal career that spans three decades. There will be plenty of information, Soledad, and they'll be able to make a choice, just like they did on Chief Justice Roberts.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president, nice to talk to you. Thanks for being with us.

BARTLETT: You too. Take care.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Thanks.

In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Hurricanes Rita, of course, the big question is tourism. How do they bring it back to some of those devastated areas. Let's get right back to Rob Marciano who's in Lake Charles, Louisiana, this morning.

Hey, Rob. Good morning.

MARCIANO: Hi, Soledad.

You know the past couple of weeks with Hurricane Rita coming through, we've been showing you the damage of the homes, the buildings, the communities. But the people have been hard to find because, for the most part, they have all evacuated. But here in Lake Charles and in Southwest Louisiana, they are allowed briefly to come back and at least look and stay at their own risk.

So we took a little trip around town to find some people digging into their homes and seeing what they found and here is one lady, Debra McCann, this is what she had to say about her experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: What's going through your head and your heart right now, you know, coming back to your home, having to deal with the flooding?

DEBRA MCCANN, LAKE CHARLES RESIDENT: It's hard. Very stressful. But we're going to clean it up. We're going to re-fix it up pretty and 99.9 percent of the time, Lake Charles is the most beautiful place in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARCIANO: Always nice to hear those positive thoughts. It is a beautiful spot, especially today compared to 12 days ago. Sunshine about to come up over the eastern horizon on a flat Lake Charles itself.

On the Like itself, several river boat casinos that helped pump money into the economy. Some lights are now being turned on but tremendous amount of damage to especially some of the river boats that are lined up in here. People travel hundreds of miles to come to Lake Charles, especially across the boarder in Texas to come here. And, obviously, tourism is a big issue.

Heading up the Visitor's Bureau here is Shelley Johnson. She joins me now live this morning.

Shelley, we're standing right on your headquarters, which was recently built. It's built pretty strong here but you've seen some pretty dramatic devastation to some of the hotels and casinos around town, haven't you? SHELLEY JOHNSON, SOUTHWEST LA. VISITORS BUREAU: Absolutely. And we're doing a survey now of all of our hotels and our casinos. And we're very fortunate, though, because two of our casinos had very minimal damage. And one had some restaurant damage. And then, of course, our Harrah's Casino here, they're sort of evaluating their situation. But it's not so dim. I think we'll be up and running in 30 to 60 days.

MARCIANO: Well, that's pretty optimistic. But I'll tell you, the last 10 years, the river boat business here in Lake Charles has really taken an uptick. Percentage wise, it's a pretty big chunk of some money that we're missing, isn't it?

JOHNSON: Well, we are a casino destination and the casino business is our number one attractor for visitors to Southwest Louisiana. Over 200,000 people every weekend have come in to this area to enjoy adult entertainment and gaming.

MARCIANO: But there's other things that people come to Louisiana for. I mean just for the nature trail for one.

JOHNSON: Outdoor recreation. You know, the bird watching. The Creole (ph) nature trail. All-American Road is one of twenty roads in the U.S. that have been declared a national treasure. And that one's going to take a little longer to come back.

MARCIANO: Yes, I've been down that one and there's some amazing trails through some of the swamps down in Cameron Parish. And, as you know, Cameron Parish has taken a tremendous amount a tremendous hit there. Have you seen any of the damage to that trail and any guess as to when that may be up and running again?

JOHNSON: Well, the road is the actual trail, Highway 27 and 82. And, you know, the birds are going to come back, the alligators are going to come back and the marsh and eco system will come back. I think the primary thing will be to get visitors to go down the trail again will be the cleanup.

MARCIANO: Back to the lake. We have pictures, I believe, of before and after. You, obviously, living through it, can speak to it. Tell me about, you know, what things have struck you visually before and after here in Lake Charles?

JOHNSON: Well, it's hard to see your home. You know, your hometown have this kind of devastation. And, of course, we all followed it on CNN because our Calcasieu Parish public officials did a fabulous job of getting us all out of here. You know, if you came back in 1957 during Hurricane Audrey, we lost over 400 people. We only lost two people this time.

So in all terms, it was a much more successful storm evacuation. And what we're seeing now is a quicker recovery. The electricity is coming on a lot sooner than we thought it would and I think the recovery is going to be the same.

MARCIANO: We are starting to see electricity right now. We're showing a picture of what was the Players, I believe now is the Harrah's Casino river boat there. That took the biggest hit, didn't it?

JOHNSON: It certainly did. And Harrah's been a strong person a strong entity in our community. In fact, they're taking care of all their employees 90 days forward. So they love Lake Charles and I think they're going to stay with us and get back on board.

MARCIANO: You know there's been some talk in Mississippi, which also has a lot of river boat casinos, obviously, of being allowed to put those on land. Have you heard of any sort of talk here in Louisiana of doing that?

JOHNSON: No, I haven't but I would certainly support that. When you see the kind of devastation that we've had and we are, you know, 45 minutes from the Gulf of Mexico and we do have a number of hurricanes that make their way into the Gulf, I don't see a problem with moving those casinos forward into a land-based casino.

MARCIANO: Shelley, thanks for joining us this morning and best of luck in the rebuilding of this town. We'll come back and visit.

JOHNSON: Thank you so much.

MARCIANO: So tourism a huge business here, obviously, as it is in many spots, Soledad. But the river boats badly damaged here in Lake Charles. Lights starting to come back, so there is some optimism there.

Back to you.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, Rob, thanks a lot.

Still to come this morning, hundreds of hurricane evacuees are soon going to move into those FEMA trailer parks. But the temporary homes are leading to a little controversy in at least one Louisiana town. We're going to tell you why just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Some welcome news this morning for hundreds of hurricane victims from the New Orleans area. The first of Louisiana trailer park communities for evacuees could open as early as today. Dan Simon is in Baker, which is just about 80 miles northwest of New Orleans.

Dan, good morning to you.

I can see a lot of the trailers, obviously, behind you. How many are there and how many people will be able to live in this trailer park?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are actually about 600 behind me. About 3,000 people will soon be making this place home. As you can see, they just go on and on and on. Ultimately, there will be several sites just like this. But as we discovered, they're not without controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON, (voice over): It gives new meaning to the idea of a gated community. Workers are putting their finishing touches on this previously vacant land that now holds nearly 600 trailers that await scores of hurricane evacuees here in Baker, Louisiana. Some of the locals calling it FEMA city. And hurricane victims like Jamal Simms can hardly wait for moving day. He says he's been living in a crowded shelter for the last month.

JAMAL SIMMS, HURRICANE EVACUEE: I'm ready to go right now. You know, basically for the privacy. That's the most important thing.

SIMON: Refrigerator/freezer over here.

The trailers, as we saw first hand, are compact. As many as five people will have to share the space, but they have all the essentials for living. Nonessentials, too, like CD players and microwave ovens.

SIMMS: Basically our own house.

SIMON: But not everyone is equally thrilled. Lisa Carter says, despite losing everything in New Orleans, the tight quarters are enough to keep her away, along with what she claims is opposition from locals.

LISA CARTER, HURRICANE EVACUEE: And the community don't want us here.

SIMON: There's some truth to what she's saying. Just listen to Baker resident Clifton Burge who says he's worried about an increase in crime.

CLIFTON BURGE, BAKER, LOUISIANA, RESIDENT: I mean we've had crime here before this ever come here, so this the only thing I can figure, it's going to increase it. You bring in more people, you're going to have more crime.

SIMON: Local officials held a town hall meeting and Mayor Harold Rideaux got a earful from other concerned residents.

You had some pretty vocal people?

MAYOR HAROLD RIDEAUX, BAKER, LOUISIANA: We had some.

SIMON: According to the mayor, the worries were fueled, in part, by stories about rape and murder in New Orleans following Katrina. While other communities are turning down similar trailer sites, Rideaux says the hurricane victims are fully welcome in Baker.

RIDEAUX: And God blessed us and when we were spared, you know, and let's give something back to those that are less fortunate.

SIMON: And for people who lost everything, this new mini city offers a fresh start in rebuilding lives. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON: Well, ideally, an evacuee will be here for about six months. But in practicality, we know that many will probably be here a lot longer than that.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Dan, how is it working? I mean, how do they decide who gets to move into a trailer who does not get to move into a trailer?

SIMON: Well, FEMA has been interviewing people. People have the opportunity to sign up and FEMA has been doing that process. It will go to the trailers will go to special needs people first and, ultimately, to regular families, and then to single individuals. And one thing I might add, each trailer costs about $16,000 to $20,000 a piece. And, as you say, they're cramped quarters. They're only about 30 feet long.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Dan Simon for us this morning.

Dan, thanks.

Still to come this morning, we are "Minding Your Business." Google wants to take one big city wireless. Why? Andy's got details up next on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Google's trying to wire up one of America's largest cities. A look at that, plus a market preview this morning. Andy's "Minding Your Business."

Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

We're talking about Wi-Fi, the wiring of America's cities. That means you can bring your laptop computer or your notebook computer anywhere in a large metropolitan area and use the Internet for free. This is an idea who's time is coming very soon. In fact the city of San Francisco is accepting proposals from companies like Google, which just submitted a bid the other day. Apparently it will cost about $10 million to $20 million. This is free for citizens of the city.

And this is how it would work. You know, San Francisco, Soledad, as you well know, is actually a small metropolitan area and only 49 square miles. They would have to put 20 to 30 connection boxes per square mile. So that's about 1,400 boxes. Once it's up and running, you bring your laptop, sit in a park and you're using the Internet.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: OK. There are companies, obviously, that sell Wi-Fi and there are companies that sell Internet service, which would be out of luck. I mean if Google goes ahead and wires . . .

SERWER: That's correct. And, you know, they're complaining to the city of San Francisco and other metropolitan areas that, hey, we put this in, we're trying to make a business here and you're going to let this go free. But cities are looking at this as a service. For instance, Philadelphia wants to go ahead and do this to make it attractive for businesses. Minneapolis, Portland, and Denver also trying to do it.

A couple of small cities have already gone ahead and done this. Chaska, Minnesota, San Mateo, California, just down the peninsula from San Francisco, and also St. Cloud, Florida. So, you know, interesting business model for cities to attract businesses.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, clearly trending that way. One last question though. Aren't there security issues? I mean, if you can, you know, I can log on I don't have wireless in my apartment but I can get into anybody wireless in my building. I would image that that raises if you do it for a whole city?

SERWER: I think that's one of those, we're sorting that out, situations.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Can you give us a market preview before we run out of time.

SERWER: I can. Let's talk about what happened yesterday, first of all. The Dow Jones Industrials slipped a little bit after five days in a row being up. Nasdaq techs up a little bit as you can see here. Inflation jitters vexing the Dow stocks. This morning, Soledad, the futures are up smartly.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right. Andy, thank you very much.

SERWER: You're welcome.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: We'll look into the security issues later.

SERWER: Indeed.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Still ahead this morning, what caused that tour boat to capsize in upstate New York over the weekend? An update on the investigation is ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: We're back with Rob Marciano who's in Lake Charles this morning.

Rob, you know, we can see what's going on behind you this morning. Now what kind of progress are you seeing since you've really spent a lot of time in Lake Charles?

MARCIANO: Well, last week when we were here, it was a little bit more desolate. You're looking right now at a shot of the boardwalk. They built this about two years ago to encourage people to use the lake more and as the casino river boats started filtered in to establish a mainstay here. And they, obviously, have taken a tremendous beating.

What you're not seeing on the other side of that is an additional river boat or casino barge that is pretty much, you know, halfway underwater and demolished. And there's a crane over there that's just picking up the pieces. So a tremendous amount of damage there.

What I've seen around neighborhoods, Soledad, is the first order of business was trying to clear the roads. You know aside from the marsh land south of here, Lake Charles itself, and this area is filled with these incredibly tall oak and pine trees. And I'm telling you, half of them came down. So the first order of business was clearing those roads. A lot of chain saw people out with their chain saws clearing the roads and that's the first order of business. Some lights coming on this morning. Some people getting in but it's a slow road to recovery and we'll talk more about that in the next two hours.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: All right, Rob, thanks.

Lots of priorities, lots of things to do first there certainly and elsewhere.

Thanks, Rob. We'll see you in just a few minutes.

A short break. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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