Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Thousands of Katrina Evacuees Still Living in Shelters; Driven to Extremes

Aired October 14, 2005 - 09:30   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's talk about "The Simpsons." Can we just show "The Simpsons" for those of you who haven't seen them. Now, this is "The Simpsons" as we know them and love them, right, dysfunctional American family. They have been turned into an Arab version.
Homer is now Omar Shamsoon (ph). This is on the MBC network. That's 'M' as in Mary. He doesn't drink beer anymore, soda pop. Does that work as well, do you think? Takes a little bit of the joke away, don't you think? Hot dogs are barbecued Egyptian beef sausages called -- and these cookies called caulk (ph). Anyway, Bart is now Batter (ph). Here's the thing, though. The bottom line is they've done all these things to make it Arab, and it's not funny.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, yes, at the end of the day, it's like, here's the problem, it's not the bacon and it's not the name. It's just not funny.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Where is this show, the MBC? What is that?

S. O'BRIEN: It's an Arab satellite TV network, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, I got it now. I was so confused by the MBC.

S. O'BRIEN: And it's voiced by a couple of very popular Egyptian actors apparently, but you know what, at the end of day, whether you're talking about here or you're talking about there, if the writing's not funny, it's not funny.

M. O'BRIEN: How do they do Apu? That's all I want to know. We'll just leave it at that.

(NEWSBREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Let's turn to Louisiana now. Thousands of Katrina evacuees still living in shelters there. One of those shelters, the River Center in Baton Rouge, you'll recall we did our show from there one day, that's going to close today. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho spent Thursday at that shelter.

Alina, good morning.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you.

It is one of the largest shelters in the state. You know, there are some 17,000 people still in emergency shelters throughout the region, a little more than 9,000 in Louisiana alone. Nearly 500 of them will have to leave the Convention Center by today, and many of them do not know where they are headed next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHO (voice-over): Bonnie Vernon has been living on this cot in the Baton Rouge Convention Center for a month. Now the city is shutting the shelter down, so Vernon and the rest of the hurricane evacuees, all 500 of them, have to move again.

(on camera): Where are you going next?

BONNIE VERNON, EVACUEE: I have no idea where I'm going.

CHO (voice-over): Vernon got an offer to work construction at $20 an hour near New Orleans, but she can't get there because she doesn't have a car. She lost that along with her home in the storm.

VERNON: All I want now is to get my life in order, and I don't want to be sent to another shelter, you know? I just want to be able to get me a place somewhere and go to work, and that's all I want to do.

CHO: Some evacuees are staying in hotels at FEMA's expense. Vernon will likely end up here in Baker, Louisiana in a trailer park for evacuees. This one is nearly filled to capacity, so the town is getting more trailers, but there won't be enough. Kim Johnson is one of the lucky ones.

(on camera): Air-conditioning in here?

KIM JOHNSON, EVACUEE: Yes.

CHO: Wow!

(voice-over): She moved from the convention center to her very own trail or Wednesday.

(on camera): What's the best part about it?

JOHNSON: The best part is privacy. That's the best part. I can go in there and shut the door.

CHO (voice-over): On Thursday, Johnson and others got an additional boost when New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin paid them a visit.

MYR. RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: You know what, I still see a lot of stress. I still see a lot of strain, but I also see a little glimmer of hope.

CHO: Bony Vernon isn't so optimistic. She's been waiting for federal assistance for more than a month.

VERNON: I would like to get a little bit of money I have coming from FEMA so I can get a car so I could go to work and get my life back together again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHO: FEMA has set a self-imposed deadline of tomorrow to get everyone out of emergency shelters, but FEMA officials admit that deadline is unrealistic, and they will not force anyone out.

Soledad, I can tell you from visiting these shelter, that it won't just be unrealistic, it will be impossible.

S. O'BRIEN: That's bad news there.

Alina Cho for us this morning. Alina, thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, so there's a problem getting them out of the shelters. When they go to other places, there's problems there as well. The city of Atlanta, just one example, 42,000 families now in that city, Katrina evacuees. A good chunk of them will probably stay there for good, and that ultimately will be great for the city of Atlanta, because there's a city there that welcomes people. We know that for a fact. But having said that, in the short term, there are some real fundamental problems handling all of this.

Joining us now is one of our favorite mayors, Atlanta mayor, Shirley Franklin, joining us from CNN Center.

Madame Mayor, always a pleasure to see you.

MYR. SHIRLEY FRANKLIN, ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Good morning.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about this, 42,000 families. That -- you know, you're a big city. It's a prosperous city, but that still puts a burden on the city, doesn't it?

FRANKLIN: Well, it certainly does, but I don't think it's a burden that FEMA can't help us to address. The Congress and the president has allocated $62 billion. Our estimates are that a family needs assistance for about six months in order to stabilize themselves and that would cost about $11,000 per family. The city of Atlanta can't absorb that cost, but we can certainly work with FEMA, if they were willing, to help families get resettled in the city and the metropolitan area.

M. O'BRIEN: So 11,000 times 42,000. I can't do that kind of math on the fly here. But how much of that money have you seen?

FRANKLIN: Well, we haven't seen any of that money.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh zero. It's just like the mayor of Baton Rouge yesterday, a big doughnut.

FRANKLIN: Big doughnut.

M. O'BRIEN: Why?

FRANKLIN: We don't have any idea. I mean, I'm pretty much on record saying that we've been talking to FEMA since the storm, offering to assist, and I mean, it's like talking to a brick wall. We identified over a thousand affordable units in our city, but we finally decided -- I threw up my hands a few weeks ago, and the city decided to go ahead and allocate about $500,000 to start working to resettle families ourselves with really no hope of being reimbursed by the federal government.

M. O'BRIEN: So what happens is, is the individual taxpayers in the city of Atlanta, basically, go on the hook, and it's a generous group of people, we know that, but nonetheless, this is something the federal government has said it would help out in. And when you say brick wall. What happens? They put you on hold and voice-mail? Can you get through? Do you get a busy signal. What are they telling you?

FRANKLIN: Well, they're just telling us that their regulations require the city of Atlanta to lease property and then to release that property to evacuees. Well, the city of Atlanta is 400,000, and as you know, and there are lots of other jurisdictions. We're not in a position to do that. What we are in a position to do is to connect FEMA, the evacuees, with our real estate agencies, with our own properties.

M. O'BRIEN: Why not -- mayor, why don't they do just a simple voucher system, and people will be able to make their own choices in these matters, and it would kind of settle itself out that way, instead of hanging everybody up, the cities, and the municipalities and all these complicated rules that can't be applied to the real world.

FRANKLIN: I have no idea. Congress and the president have appropriated the funds. For some reason, they can find a way to give vouchers for private education at $7,500 per student, even for students who are in public schools along the Gulf Coast, but they cannot find a way to come up with even $7,500 for families to relocate and resettle. It doesn't make any sense. It's baffling to all of us. We're really discouraged. Most of us are trying to find other ways to help these families.

M. O'BRIEN: You know, you're not a person who gets easily discouraged. You're the kind of person who doesn't like too take no for an answer. What are you going to do?

FRANKLIN: Well, we continue to talk to our delegation, our Georgia delegation. We continue to talk to FEMA. We believe that the governor of Georgia, Governor Perdue, has similar concerns. We are just doing the best we can one family at a time. The city has allocated funds for the first 50 families, and as they get situated and settled, we'll continue to try to find the resources to help these families out. If we don't do that, we will create a new class of poor people, who prior to the hurricane had homes, had apartments, had jobs, had cars. FEMA is just completely off base.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, we're not going let them stay off base. Stay in close contact with us, mayor, as you fight this battle and keep us posted, OK? FRANKLIN: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Atlanta mayor, Shirley Franklin. Always a pleasure.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come on the program, what does it take for a NASCAR pit crew to do its job? Practice, practice, practice. Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Is he in the middle of that shot there doing something? I think he was part of this deal. We'll find out.

S. O'BRIEN: Also, our pop culture report. Back with a new name and a new James Bond. Get ready for A.M. Pop and the story behind Daniel Craig. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

M. O'BRIEN: He's the one wearing the geeky life jacket.

S. O'BRIEN: He's the hunky one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Business news now. Remember the hard-to-find Prius? Well, guess what? There's a recall for them. We'll tell you about that. Also a check on Wall Street this morning. Andy is "Minding Your Business."

Wall street first.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

Let's talk about Wall Street indeed, do that first. Go down the Big Board and check out the action for the Dow Jones Industrials, and we can see up 39 points for the Dow -- 29 points, excuse me. I don't have my spectacles with me this morning.

S. O'BRIEN: It's hard to see actually.

SERWER: There's a little glare down there. We should make a phone call. Inflation up for the month of September, about 1.2 percent. That's a lot. But the core rate, which excludes energy rises and food prices, only up 1/10 of 1 percent. That's less than expected. We knew energy prices were going to be up. Wall Street likes this news. General Electric earnings coming in better than expected as well, so that's providing a boost for stocks.

Now earlier in the program, we talked about fuel-efficient cars. At the -- near the top of the list, I should say, is the Prius, 60 miles to the gallon, the car gets, which is simply amazing, but the car's got to work.

S. O'BRIEN: The car's got to go, and they're having some problems with the Prius apparently today. Toyota recalling 160,000 of these vehicles worldwide, 75,000 in the U.S. It's not dangerous apparently; it's an electrical problem. But they're recalling 160,000, and they only made about 125,000 last year, so you can see that's a whole lot of the population of Priuses outstanding, and they've got to get that baby fixed -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, thank you for that update -- Miles.

SERWER: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: Of course, the mileage improves greatly if you keep it on your driveway.

SERWER: Good point. Well done.

M. O'BRIEN: Sanjay, Gupta, racy guy -- more proof.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been called ballet without tutus, every step choreographed, two tire changers, two tire carriers, a jack man, a gas man and a catch can man, all moving in unison. Each position requiring a different blend of strength, agility, flexibility, reflexes and coordination.

A good pitstop means four new tires and 22 gallons of gas in 14 seconds. Let your local full service station try that. Phil Horton coaches the pit crews for Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates (ph). He recruits former college and high school athletes with the skill he needs in the pits.

PHIL HORTON, GANASSI PIT CREW COACH: An example of that would be the tire changers. They have to be accurate in what they do, you know, five off, five on with the lugnuts. And they have to be precise. So then we would use a quarterback, wide receiver, somebody who is going to be accurate in what they do and precise. And then that translates into being a good changer.

GUPTA: Wander into one of Coach Horton's practices and you may think it's a football team, working on agility and fitness. A pitstop may look smooth, but the moves are not easy, as I learned for myself.

HORTON: If you take off on the correct foot -- if you come off on the correct foot, you can cut this corner here, and cut this corner here without shuffling your feet. And it can concentrate on working on the lugnut, on hitting the lugnuts. So that is kind of basic Ergonomics 101. That's proper footwork. That's the way it's done. You ready?

GUPTA (on camera): Three point two seconds.

HORTON: That was good.

GUPTA (voice-over): Coach Horton said he could even have me ready for pit row -- in a year-and-a-half.

HORTON: There you go. All right, you got to start over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: Uh-oh, what happened there? I was trying to see how fast the other guy could do it. Sanjay's not quitting the day job. You know, that brain surgery thing is probably a little better gig for him anyway.

Dr. Gupta gets behind the wheel to examine safety and athletic performance in NASCAR racing. It is called "NASCAR: DRIVEN TO EXTREMES," and it's one of those assignments that I would have pitched but they'd say no to, but, you know...

S. O'BRIEN: That is pretty cool. Sanjay did pretty well.

M. O'BRIEN: He did. In a manner of speaking. Daryn, what's coming up?

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got a lot of stuff in the next three hours. Good morning to both of you.

Coming up at the top of the hour: flooding, evacuations and days of non-stop rain. CNN's Chris Huntington, live in New Jersey, where state officials expect some rivers and streams to crest in the hour ahead. We will have the latest.

And wait until you meet these kids. Kids helping kids. We're going to meet some fifth graders who survived Hurricane Ivan last year. They have now published a survival guide for kids facing similar challenges after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Great story, great kids, all ahead.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. We're looking forward to that, Daryn, thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Daryn, appreciate it.

S. O'BRIEN: Coming up, the newly-minted James Bond. Guess what? We're going to talk about him a little more.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, please!

S. O'BRIEN: There is he, making his big appearance. We're going to talk about whether this man is Bond-worthy, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Cute enough.

M. O'BRIEN: Junk bond. He's a junk bond.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, stop.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: There's a new James Bond we've been talking about all morning. And guess what? We predicted it right here on AMERICAN MORNING. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON HICKLIN, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "BLACKBOOK": If you look at the franchise, they've always gone for someone that no one's heard of before.

COSTELLO: There is he is! Daniel Craig, a British hunk. He starred in two very good British movies. One called "Layer Cake," which came out this summer. Didn't do too well, but the critics loved it. His performance as a kind of suave gangster showed that he could handle a weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: Made a lot of predictions on "90 Second Pop." So rarely do they come through. But Aaron Hicklin, who you saw right there, is with us this morning, as well. He's the editor-in-chief of "Blackbook" magazine. Nice to have you.

HICKLIN: Thank you, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Who is this guy? I'm sorry, "Layer Cake"? What is that movie? We never heard of it.

HICKLIN: No one's heard of this guy. But no one heard of Sean Connery before he took on the role. No one had heard of Roger Moore. Pierce Brosnan had some success with "Remington Steel," it was just a TV show, after all. They've always been very successful with unknowns. And in a sense, the franchise has made the actor, rather than the other way around.

S. O'BRIEN: So you think they intentionally went to pick -- because the list of people who were really up for it was a list of really famous names.

HICKLIN: Yes. It was about 100 people on that list. I mean, it was Ewan McGregor, who was apparently too short. Clive Owen, who turned it down, probably for good reasons. He didn't want to get pigeonholed. In the end, I think they went with the guy who would help revive the franchise, especially with, perhaps, a younger audience, someone they could kind of remodel in the likeness they were looking for.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, look at this. This is where we were showing this morning, when he made the official announcement and then he kind of stands up on bridge It looks -- he looks a sissified, wearing a life preserver. I mean, it's sort of -- whatever P.R. person arranged this should be fired immediately. It doesn't look Bond-ish to me.

HICKLIN: That is not a good look.

S. O'BRIEN: No.

HICKLIN: But you know what, he was in a movie called "Layer Cake" and he's really a Clive Owen doppelganger. I mean, he's got the same brooding quality. He's very masculine, which is something that definitely is important to them. I know Hugh Jackman was apparently rejected as just a little too fey for them. So they were looking for someone who is very kind of masculine, a bit butch, who could -- who wouldn't look so bad with a 22-year-old girl on his arm, which I'm not sure Pierce Brosnan could carry off too much longer. S. O'BRIEN: You know, please. These male actors are carrying off 22-year-old blonds on their arms until they're like 99 years old. You know, he's blond. That's going to make him unusual for the Bond.

HICKLIN: He's -- yeah.

S. O'BRIEN: And you know what? He's also brooding, brooding, brooding, which -- who was the other guy? You know, the dark, brooding.

HICKLIN: Dalton, Timothy Dalton.

S. O'BRIEN: Timothy Dalton. And it's, like, all right, come on, get over whatever's on your mind. He was such a downer.

HICKLIN: Yes, maybe brooding is not going to be in for so much longer, but you know, hair I don't think I don't think is a problem. Sean Connery was wearing a toupee in the last two outings as Bond. If he can get away with it, I'm sure a blond receding hairline will work.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, you think they're going to change his color, or you think they'll go with the blond Bond?

HICKLIN: I think they'll go with the blond Bond. It's more in keeping with the times.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Do you think people are going to love this guy or they're not going to love this guy, Daniel Craig?

HICKLIN: You know, at the end of day, it's all about the performance. It's about the actor. He's a great actor.

S. O'BRIEN: OK, hi, no, it's not. We're talking about James Bond! What's wrong with you?

HICKLIN: Well, you know, there's (INAUDIBLE) and all of that, but they want to reinvent it. This is like "Bond Begins." It's like "Batman Begins." They're taking it back to ground -- you know, to the beginning. They're going to reinvent it. They're trying to get the young kids. They don't want the 70-year-old granddads watching it who started watching it 43 years ago. They're looking for the kids.

S. O'BRIEN: It's an opportunity, Aaron Hicklin is saying. Editor-in-chief of "Blackbook" magazine. Nice to see you.

HICKLIN: Hey, I've got dark hair. Maybe I could play the part.

S. O'BRIEN: And the accent. You got it. We'll talk later.

HICKLIN: Thanks.

S. O'BRIEN: A short break. We're back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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