CNN.com - Transcripts

Transcript Providers

Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

New Orleans Awaits Hurricane Ivan; Martha Stewart to Start Jail Time, Foregoes Appeal; Are Women the New Suicide Bombers?

Aired September 15, 2004 - 13:00 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.

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jason Bellini in New Orleans, where here on the streets, there's not panic as the hurricane approaches. There's actually some parties going on. I'll have that story coming up.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And we'll get the latest track for Ivan and Jeanne as this hurricane season keeps everyone on edge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTH STEWART: I must reclaim my good life. I must return to my good works, and allow those around me, who work with me, to do the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Martha Stewart decides to start her jail time, foregoing her appeal. The story behind the move, live from New York.

PHILLIPS: And meet the new suicide bombers: women. Get a closer look at a deadly new trend in terror. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.

WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Miles O'Brien. It is Wednesday, September 15th, and CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

PHILLIPS: We begin this hour with Ivan's arrival, imminent in some places, apparent in others, dreaded from bayou to panhandle on the northern gulf coast. Ivan's eye is now roughly 200 miles due south of Mobile, Alabama, heading north at 13 miles an hour. But do the math. Hurricane caliber winds extend more than 100 miles from Ivan's center -- tropical storm force winds almost 300 miles.

That means for anybody who hasn't yet fled the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida gulf coast, this storm is not just a blob on the radar screen. We've got reporters and crews all along the danger zone -- Jason Bellini in New Orleans, Phil Hemmer in Mobile, Alabama, and Rick Sanchez in Panama City Beach. We start with the big picture, though, CNN's meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui...

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Jacqui. Well, New Orleans is a very unique city in many ways. Namely, in this case, it sits below sea level, between the Mississippi River and a lake the size of Rhode Island. Levies have been built to help keep the water at bay, but a category four hurricane is something very different. That's why untold thousands of residents and visitors there are heeding the mayor's advice to get out. We get the latest now from CNN's Jason Bellini. Jason...

BELLINI: Hello, Fredricka. Well, those who have not left, they're pretty much going to stay. The opportunities to go have pretty well passed at this point, because there are no flights out. The roads, although we're told that they have cleared up a bit, yesterday, it was just gridlock getting out of here. But most of the people we're talking to on the street are here to stay.

They've been watching the weather forecast, and they think that it's not going to be as bad as they initially thought, that it probably won't hit here. And so, there are people who are going on partying. There's a hurricane party going on right back there. I spoke to someone who was just inside and said there were 50 people who were drinking up and having a good time, and pretty unconcerned about the possibility of that nightmare scenario you were just mentioning, in which the banks of the river could overflow, and this city could be under 14 feet of water if there was a direct hit by Hurricane Ivan.

So here on the streets, there's a sense of calm. I also spoke with one tourist, Fredricka, who was just out looking at the river, and she pointed out to me a very interesting phenomenon: the river has changed directions. The Mississippi has changed directions. It's no longer flowing out to the gulf. The water is flowing in from the ocean, that being caused by the hurricane itself.

People here hoping for the best. And one last thing. People who are here have been encouraged to vertically evacuate, meaning have a way to get to a third or fourth floor of a building in case there is severe flooding, which again, could reach 14 feet here in the French Quarter. Fredricka...

WHITFIELD: And Jason, I was going to ask you exactly that. A lot of the stories that you're hearing from the people you've talked to there who are having those hurricane parties, are they deciding to go to more fortified buildings, you know, higher up?

BELLINI: Many people here planning to stay where they are. And they say that they have plans, if things get really bad, at the last minute, to go to friends' relatives' places, where they can get up higher. There are a number of tourists who just don't have many options, and so they're in their hotels, and they say if the worst were to occur, that they can always just go up the stairs, up to a higher level.

And a good many of the people, again, that are here are tourists. We just spoke to some earlier who, they couldn't get a rental car, they couldn't get a flight out, so they had no choice but to stay. They're scared, but they're staying. Fredricka...

WHITFIELD: Somehow, the drink in New Orleans, the hurricane is no more appropriate than it is now. All right, Jason Bellini, thanks so much, from New Orleans. Kyra...

PHILLIPS: All right, while some people are drinking, other people are praying. The fall term is underway at New Orleans' Xavier University, but attendance-wise, it looks more like Christmas break. The school is scrambling to get everybody who just arrived back out of town. But Norman Francis isn't going anywhere. He's the university president; we've got him on the phone.

Now, Dr. Francis, I know you're very stubborn. Why are you holed up in your office right now?

DR. NORMAN FRANCIS, PRES. XAVIER UNIVERSITY: Well, I'm very comfortable. I want to be here with the rest of the folks who are taking care of the campus. So I'm in my office, got my bed set up, and I'm in good shape. We're in a good, strong 1932 building, and I can go up vertically to another floor from my second floor. I'm in good shape, and so far, we're in good shape.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the students. I know you've been scrambling to get all the students off campus. How did you organize that? How did you get the students to go? Did some students want to stay? Tell me what you went through?

FRANCIS: No major problems. We've been through this a bit. We started Thursday. We picked up all of our options, what we were going to do here, there, and then decided on Sunday we'd take a reading, listen to what the mayor would say, and prepare to leave if we had to go. And so, that we did.

On yesterday, we put the remaining 250 kids who could not get out on their own onto five buses, and we started the trek up to Monroe. Louisiana Tech was happy to take us in. And it was a long trek; it took about six hours to go 30 miles, and then, the next 200, it took about maybe two and a half hours.

So everybody's safe now. They've called me, and we're just happy. We've been through this before, and the kids are perfect. They were perfect all the way, taking that long, 10-hour drive, which should have taken maybe four and a half hours.

PHILLIPS: Well, they're probably excited they don't have to write any papers right now for their professors. Now, Dr. Francis, you mentioned 1932. Your school has a tremendous history. It has an amazing art collection. There's a lot of cultural and historical, I guess, presence, you could say, at that university. Have you done anything to protect the campus?

FRANCIS: Yes, we've got everything locked down. We've got sandbags wherever they should be. We've picked up everything that could fly around and create major problems and the like. I think we're in good shape. We've done this, as I said, before. We have our hurricane preparedness MOU, and all the people know what they have to do.

We've got all the workers who are here staying in one building, which is a little apartment building that we didn't have to use this year, because we built a big dormitory. This is our largest enrollment, incidentally, in the university... the largest enrollment on campus. So it really was a challenge when we decided we were going to move, but it was perfect.

Everybody worked perfectly. It's a big family, and I think the youngsters have learned that do what you've got to do when asked, and they did it. And we're just praying now that the floods don't come, and the rains can be handled by the pumps that'll bring it out... our sea level here, as you just mentioned.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Norman Francis, president of Xavier University, your whole family has left that area.

FRANCIS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: You said you'd go into a hotel. They've been trying to get you to do it. But now, you've just admitted on national television you've got a cot in your office.

FRANCIS: I've got a cot in my office, and I'm watching the rest of the place to make sure that everybody... I've said all along, I'll do anything any of our other folks do, pick up the papers and the like. But I really wanted to be here, and I'm very happy.

PHILLIPS: Well, you be careful. We'll check in with you, OK?

FRANCIS: Thanks so much, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks a lot, Dr. Norman Francis. Well, it was the very week in 1979 that Hurricane Frederick devastated Mobile Bay and many miles around it. Today, many others feel that Ivan will be the worst that region has seen in a quarter century since. CNN's Bill Hemmer is right there, smack dab in the middle of it all, getting a little breezy. Hi, Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. They still talk about Frederick today. In fact, a couple of hours ago, we had a couple people on our air talking about how their restaurant was absolutely destroyed. It took them two years to rebuild and get back on their feet, but they say business was never the same after Frederick rolled through their lives back in 1979.

We're getting a little bit of rain now, a little bit of wind, but nothing like we anticipate several hours from now, Kyra. I'll tell you, the thing that strikes me, watching that satellite map, we arrived here late yesterday, early in the evening, and Ivan was just off the western coast of Cuba. And now, with it moving at a speed of 12, even 13 miles an hour, we're now seeing the storm really move its way up along the coast.

The latest reading has it due south of Mobile, Alabama, maybe a little more than 200 miles due south of our location here. If it continues on that path, Mobile will take a direct hit from Ivan in 2004. Tell you what's happening here in Mobile, Alabama... few people, few sightseers down here on the river, Mobile River off to my right. Beyond that, you have the Mobile Bay. Not many people coming out. In fact, hour after hour, we see fewer and fewer people, and fewer cars on the road too. In fact, one of the things we've noted over the past hour, at least three different convoys of school busses, sometimes four, sometimes as many as six busses at a time getting the sheriffs deputy escort to the local prison, away from the prison downtown, into a location outside of the town here.

I-65 runs north out of Mobile. At 7:00 a.m. local time today, they shutdown the southbound lanes, and made all four lanes going north to help with the evacuation effort here. CNN people throughout the area of Mobile tell us there's an animal shelter here, where 20 people right now are lined up outside, trying to get their pets inside the hospital.

And ice is at a premium, going by the palate at this point, in Mobile. And Kyra, one final word on this storm. It's been a killer today. At least 68 people dead, going back to Grenada, going back to Jamaica, the Grand Caymans and Cuba... not to be messed around with, with a category four storm headed our way here in Mobile. Back to you now in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: All right, you know, Bill, you can always hunker down on the U.S.S. Alabama if you're looking for a safe place to be.

HEMMER: You want to know a quick story? We found out there were eight families staying on board the U.S.S. Alabama. We tried to get a camera on there a couple of hours ago -- not allowed yet, but we're still working it. We'll let you know if we have any success.

PHILLIPS: All right. I know if anyone can do it, you can. Our Bill Hemmer, Mobile, Alabama. Thanks, Bill. Fred...

WHITFIELD: Well, in the Florida Panhandle, they're comparing Ivan with the two hurricanes that preceded it in just the past month. Florida's lieutenant governor says this storm has the size of Francis, but the punch of Charley. CNN's Rick Sanchez checks in from Panama City Beach now. Rick, it looks like you've got a little wind and rain now.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's really been picking up here. As a matter of fact, the surf has been picking up as well, Fredricka. We've seen some of the waves there just change dramatically over the course of the last hour or so. And we received a report not long ago -- not here... we don't want to alarm anyone -- but about 200 to 300 miles offshore, they have registered one wave in excess of 34 feet.

So you can imagine what that type of storm, a category four storm, would bring with it. You heard Bill mention moments ago the 68 people who've perished in the Caribbean and the Grenada area, and also in Jamaica. Grenada, by the way, they still have 90 percent of the homes that have been damaged as a result of this storm.

In this particular area, there's something else that I think has moved people to heed the warnings, and do so in maybe a way that they haven't done so in an awful long time, speaking as a longtime Floridian. And that is the other two storms that preceded this one. Charley, many people believe, took a little bit of a different route and went to the East.

This particular storm, in comparison, seems to be headed, so say the forecasters for the area of Mobile, as Bill just said, or maybe Pensacola. They're concerned, well, what if it heads to the East the way Charley did? Then we'll be like the people of Punta Gorda. That's why people here have not been taking any chances.

Also, they followed the path of Francis, of seeing the destruction there, and have also used that to heed the warnings. We've really seen people leaving this area because it's a peninsula, in particular, and they're concerned that because of the storm surge, could divide this peninsula. A lot of people could be stuck, and that's why officials have forced them out. And they, for the most part, have responded aptly.

We'll be following things here for you as things change. Oh, one other thing. We just received a report a while ago that the Florida National Guard is staging over here in the Bay County Fairgrounds... they're going to be used or dispersed later on after the storm to go to the areas as they're needed. So we'll be following that development in this storm as well.

WHITFIELD: All right...

SANCHEZ: Rick Sanchez here in Panama City Beach. Back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Rick. Well, don't forget, we've got round the clock, wall to wall coverage of Hurricane Ivan. Stick with CNN, the most trusted name in news. Kyra...

PHILLIPS: Well, it looks like the storm warnings don't end with Ivan. As Jeanne churns in the on-deck circle, what's the likely path? The latest, live from the National Hurricane Center. Martha Stewart decides to get down to the business of serving time. Is it a good thing?

(MUSIC)

All right, well, I was actually supposed to try and sing, but I'm not going to do it. But how can you forget that guy? It's such a jungle sometimes, it makes you wonder why it took so long for these rap legends to get some overdo attention. Details later as LIVE FROM pulls out the Capezios, the silk shirts, and we're going to have a Grandmaster flashback.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a story we've been talking about for a number of days, actually a number of weeks now, and that's President George Bush and his service in the National Guard. He did speak before the Guard yesterday. And now, Scott McClellan, White House press secretary, has just responded to reporters asking him about the president and the Guard during a briefing. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Scott, on the National Guard documents on "60 Minutes," the first lady says she believes these are forgeries. The RNC has accused the Democratic Party of being the source of these documents. Knowing then what you know now, would you still have released those documents when you did?

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, that's a hypothetical question, John. I mean, we received those documents from a major news organization. We had every reason to believe that they were authentic at that time. And in keeping with the spirit of releasing documents and being open about all the documents that we have, we made those documents available to everybody else so you could look at them yourselves.

Since that time, there have been a number of questions that have been raised about these documents and their authenticity. There continue to be questions raised. Those are serious issues. They ought to be looked into fully. The one thing that is not under question is the timing of these orchestrated attacks by the Democrats on the president's service.

These are old, recycled attacks, and the Democrats have made it clear that they intend to try to tear down the president and throw the kitchen sink at us, because they can't run on John Kerry's record, and because they see him falling behind in the polls, and that's what this is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Once again, just reviewing, the documents that CBS reported about, whether President Bush served rightfully in the National Guard or not. Once again, Scott McClellan coming forward, saying that they stand by the documents that they released. CBS also standing by its report. Fred...

WHITFIELD: Turning now to Iraq, three headless bodies were found along a road north of Baghdad. Authorities aren't sure where the men were from, or if they had been hostages. Iraqi militants have freed one hostage from Turkey. You're looking at video that was obtained by Associated Press Television News. The man was working as a translator when he was abducted almost two months ago.

Elsewhere, U.S. troops clashed with insurgents in Ramadi, which is in the Sunni Triangle. Eleven Iraqis were killed.

And now, to Beslan, Russia, where a shattered community is doing its best to return to some normalcy two weeks after the horrifying terrorist siege that took hundreds of lives, many of them children. CNN's Ryan Chilcote reports as classes resume at a different Beslan school, and as the students cope with the kinds of fears that go far beyond a routine case of first day jitters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're standing out in front of one of the schools just down the street from school number one. That is where the hostage crisis played out nearly two weeks ago. School just ended here. The teachers didn't keep the kids for very long. They just kept them for one class.

Now, traditionally in Russia, that first class on the first day is dedicated to a discussion about peace. Normally, it's about World War II. But here in Beslan, given the hostage-taking crisis, it was dedicated, of course, to the events that took place here, that began on September 1. They also paused for a minute of silence to remember those who passed away in that hostage crisis, including some 200 children.

Now, attendance was very low. The class we visited was a group of second graders. There should have been 30 kids in the class, but there were just five. And that is one of the big concerns here. The children are just too scared to go back to school, even those who weren't in school number one, who weren't hostages. Most of them know someone who was. Most of them know someone who was wounded or killed in that siege.

Now, the teachers are hoping to build on those numbers, build the confidence among the children that it is safe. That's why they have this security out here in front of the schools today. Those kids who survived that hostage crisis have been given two months leave. They're going to be sent to resort towns in the South of the country so that they can prepare themselves to go back to school. Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Beslan, Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: While Russia grieves those who were lost in the Beslan school siege and other recent attacks, terror experts note a disturbing trend: the increasing participation of women as suicide bombers. Coming up in the next half hour of LIVE FROM, a special report on the "Sisters in Terror." What drives these women to kill, and why they are being actively recruited.

PHILLIPS: Next on LIVE FROM, domestic diva and convicted felon Martha Stewart takes one for the stockholders. Later, why would anyone stay in New Orleans with Ivan approaching? LIVE FROM checks in with some friends of the show choosing to tough it out. And Thursday, D. Trump, the cutthroat game America couldn't stop watching. Now, "Apprentice" winner Bill Rancic in the house. We'll get some business advice from the savvy competitor tomorrow on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Martha Stewart, known for her take charge attitude at work, demonstrated the same determination today. In a late morning news conference, she announced that she's asked the judge in her case to let her report for her five-month jail sentence as soon as possible. Stewart was sentenced in July on felony charges related to a stock sale almost three years ago. She mentioned regret at missing holidays like Halloween and being separated from her pets, including her chickens, but says she needs to put the whole thing behind her for personal and professional reasons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA STEWART: The only way to reclaim my life, and the quality of life for all those related to me, with certainty, now, is to serve my sentence, surrender to the authorities, so that I can quickly return, as soon as possible, to the life and the work that I love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: In other celebrity legal news, the only court Kobe Bryant is concerned about these days is the basketball court. But it's the State of Colorado that's left with nothing but net... net costs, that is. Documents show that prosecutors racked up nearly $400,000 in charges while putting together a felony sexual assault case against the NBA star, a case that was dismissed September 1st, at the plaintiff's request.

The expenses include $75,000 for expert witnesses and travel, $76,000 for a spokeswoman for the lead prosecutor, Mark Hurlbert, and another $35,000 for service to track all of the news coverage.

PHILLIPS: Businesses along the gulf are bracing for Hurricane Ivan. We're talking about businesses all along the gulf coast now. Rhonda Schaffler joins us from the New York Stock Exchange...

(BUSINESS REPORT)

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 September 15, 2004 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Jason Bellini in New Orleans, where here on the streets, there's not panic as the hurricane approaches. There's actually some parties going on. I'll have that story coming up.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And we'll get the latest track for Ivan and Jeanne as this hurricane season keeps everyone on edge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTH STEWART: I must reclaim my good life. I must return to my good works, and allow those around me, who work with me, to do the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Martha Stewart decides to start her jail time, foregoing her appeal. The story behind the move, live from New York.

PHILLIPS: And meet the new suicide bombers: women. Get a closer look at a deadly new trend in terror. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, hello everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips.

WHITFIELD: And I'm Fredricka Whitfield in for Miles O'Brien. It is Wednesday, September 15th, and CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

PHILLIPS: We begin this hour with Ivan's arrival, imminent in some places, apparent in others, dreaded from bayou to panhandle on the northern gulf coast. Ivan's eye is now roughly 200 miles due south of Mobile, Alabama, heading north at 13 miles an hour. But do the math. Hurricane caliber winds extend more than 100 miles from Ivan's center -- tropical storm force winds almost 300 miles.

That means for anybody who hasn't yet fled the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida gulf coast, this storm is not just a blob on the radar screen. We've got reporters and crews all along the danger zone -- Jason Bellini in New Orleans, Phil Hemmer in Mobile, Alabama, and Rick Sanchez in Panama City Beach. We start with the big picture, though, CNN's meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Jacqui...

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Jacqui. Well, New Orleans is a very unique city in many ways. Namely, in this case, it sits below sea level, between the Mississippi River and a lake the size of Rhode Island. Levies have been built to help keep the water at bay, but a category four hurricane is something very different. That's why untold thousands of residents and visitors there are heeding the mayor's advice to get out. We get the latest now from CNN's Jason Bellini. Jason...

BELLINI: Hello, Fredricka. Well, those who have not left, they're pretty much going to stay. The opportunities to go have pretty well passed at this point, because there are no flights out. The roads, although we're told that they have cleared up a bit, yesterday, it was just gridlock getting out of here. But most of the people we're talking to on the street are here to stay.

They've been watching the weather forecast, and they think that it's not going to be as bad as they initially thought, that it probably won't hit here. And so, there are people who are going on partying. There's a hurricane party going on right back there. I spoke to someone who was just inside and said there were 50 people who were drinking up and having a good time, and pretty unconcerned about the possibility of that nightmare scenario you were just mentioning, in which the banks of the river could overflow, and this city could be under 14 feet of water if there was a direct hit by Hurricane Ivan.

So here on the streets, there's a sense of calm. I also spoke with one tourist, Fredricka, who was just out looking at the river, and she pointed out to me a very interesting phenomenon: the river has changed directions. The Mississippi has changed directions. It's no longer flowing out to the gulf. The water is flowing in from the ocean, that being caused by the hurricane itself.

People here hoping for the best. And one last thing. People who are here have been encouraged to vertically evacuate, meaning have a way to get to a third or fourth floor of a building in case there is severe flooding, which again, could reach 14 feet here in the French Quarter. Fredricka...

WHITFIELD: And Jason, I was going to ask you exactly that. A lot of the stories that you're hearing from the people you've talked to there who are having those hurricane parties, are they deciding to go to more fortified buildings, you know, higher up?

BELLINI: Many people here planning to stay where they are. And they say that they have plans, if things get really bad, at the last minute, to go to friends' relatives' places, where they can get up higher. There are a number of tourists who just don't have many options, and so they're in their hotels, and they say if the worst were to occur, that they can always just go up the stairs, up to a higher level.

And a good many of the people, again, that are here are tourists. We just spoke to some earlier who, they couldn't get a rental car, they couldn't get a flight out, so they had no choice but to stay. They're scared, but they're staying. Fredricka...

WHITFIELD: Somehow, the drink in New Orleans, the hurricane is no more appropriate than it is now. All right, Jason Bellini, thanks so much, from New Orleans. Kyra...

PHILLIPS: All right, while some people are drinking, other people are praying. The fall term is underway at New Orleans' Xavier University, but attendance-wise, it looks more like Christmas break. The school is scrambling to get everybody who just arrived back out of town. But Norman Francis isn't going anywhere. He's the university president; we've got him on the phone.

Now, Dr. Francis, I know you're very stubborn. Why are you holed up in your office right now?

DR. NORMAN FRANCIS, PRES. XAVIER UNIVERSITY: Well, I'm very comfortable. I want to be here with the rest of the folks who are taking care of the campus. So I'm in my office, got my bed set up, and I'm in good shape. We're in a good, strong 1932 building, and I can go up vertically to another floor from my second floor. I'm in good shape, and so far, we're in good shape.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the students. I know you've been scrambling to get all the students off campus. How did you organize that? How did you get the students to go? Did some students want to stay? Tell me what you went through?

FRANCIS: No major problems. We've been through this a bit. We started Thursday. We picked up all of our options, what we were going to do here, there, and then decided on Sunday we'd take a reading, listen to what the mayor would say, and prepare to leave if we had to go. And so, that we did.

On yesterday, we put the remaining 250 kids who could not get out on their own onto five buses, and we started the trek up to Monroe. Louisiana Tech was happy to take us in. And it was a long trek; it took about six hours to go 30 miles, and then, the next 200, it took about maybe two and a half hours.

So everybody's safe now. They've called me, and we're just happy. We've been through this before, and the kids are perfect. They were perfect all the way, taking that long, 10-hour drive, which should have taken maybe four and a half hours.

PHILLIPS: Well, they're probably excited they don't have to write any papers right now for their professors. Now, Dr. Francis, you mentioned 1932. Your school has a tremendous history. It has an amazing art collection. There's a lot of cultural and historical, I guess, presence, you could say, at that university. Have you done anything to protect the campus?

FRANCIS: Yes, we've got everything locked down. We've got sandbags wherever they should be. We've picked up everything that could fly around and create major problems and the like. I think we're in good shape. We've done this, as I said, before. We have our hurricane preparedness MOU, and all the people know what they have to do.

We've got all the workers who are here staying in one building, which is a little apartment building that we didn't have to use this year, because we built a big dormitory. This is our largest enrollment, incidentally, in the university... the largest enrollment on campus. So it really was a challenge when we decided we were going to move, but it was perfect.

Everybody worked perfectly. It's a big family, and I think the youngsters have learned that do what you've got to do when asked, and they did it. And we're just praying now that the floods don't come, and the rains can be handled by the pumps that'll bring it out... our sea level here, as you just mentioned.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Norman Francis, president of Xavier University, your whole family has left that area.

FRANCIS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: You said you'd go into a hotel. They've been trying to get you to do it. But now, you've just admitted on national television you've got a cot in your office.

FRANCIS: I've got a cot in my office, and I'm watching the rest of the place to make sure that everybody... I've said all along, I'll do anything any of our other folks do, pick up the papers and the like. But I really wanted to be here, and I'm very happy.

PHILLIPS: Well, you be careful. We'll check in with you, OK?

FRANCIS: Thanks so much, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thanks a lot, Dr. Norman Francis. Well, it was the very week in 1979 that Hurricane Frederick devastated Mobile Bay and many miles around it. Today, many others feel that Ivan will be the worst that region has seen in a quarter century since. CNN's Bill Hemmer is right there, smack dab in the middle of it all, getting a little breezy. Hi, Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. They still talk about Frederick today. In fact, a couple of hours ago, we had a couple people on our air talking about how their restaurant was absolutely destroyed. It took them two years to rebuild and get back on their feet, but they say business was never the same after Frederick rolled through their lives back in 1979.

We're getting a little bit of rain now, a little bit of wind, but nothing like we anticipate several hours from now, Kyra. I'll tell you, the thing that strikes me, watching that satellite map, we arrived here late yesterday, early in the evening, and Ivan was just off the western coast of Cuba. And now, with it moving at a speed of 12, even 13 miles an hour, we're now seeing the storm really move its way up along the coast.

The latest reading has it due south of Mobile, Alabama, maybe a little more than 200 miles due south of our location here. If it continues on that path, Mobile will take a direct hit from Ivan in 2004. Tell you what's happening here in Mobile, Alabama... few people, few sightseers down here on the river, Mobile River off to my right. Beyond that, you have the Mobile Bay. Not many people coming out. In fact, hour after hour, we see fewer and fewer people, and fewer cars on the road too. In fact, one of the things we've noted over the past hour, at least three different convoys of school busses, sometimes four, sometimes as many as six busses at a time getting the sheriffs deputy escort to the local prison, away from the prison downtown, into a location outside of the town here.

I-65 runs north out of Mobile. At 7:00 a.m. local time today, they shutdown the southbound lanes, and made all four lanes going north to help with the evacuation effort here. CNN people throughout the area of Mobile tell us there's an animal shelter here, where 20 people right now are lined up outside, trying to get their pets inside the hospital.

And ice is at a premium, going by the palate at this point, in Mobile. And Kyra, one final word on this storm. It's been a killer today. At least 68 people dead, going back to Grenada, going back to Jamaica, the Grand Caymans and Cuba... not to be messed around with, with a category four storm headed our way here in Mobile. Back to you now in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: All right, you know, Bill, you can always hunker down on the U.S.S. Alabama if you're looking for a safe place to be.

HEMMER: You want to know a quick story? We found out there were eight families staying on board the U.S.S. Alabama. We tried to get a camera on there a couple of hours ago -- not allowed yet, but we're still working it. We'll let you know if we have any success.

PHILLIPS: All right. I know if anyone can do it, you can. Our Bill Hemmer, Mobile, Alabama. Thanks, Bill. Fred...

WHITFIELD: Well, in the Florida Panhandle, they're comparing Ivan with the two hurricanes that preceded it in just the past month. Florida's lieutenant governor says this storm has the size of Francis, but the punch of Charley. CNN's Rick Sanchez checks in from Panama City Beach now. Rick, it looks like you've got a little wind and rain now.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's really been picking up here. As a matter of fact, the surf has been picking up as well, Fredricka. We've seen some of the waves there just change dramatically over the course of the last hour or so. And we received a report not long ago -- not here... we don't want to alarm anyone -- but about 200 to 300 miles offshore, they have registered one wave in excess of 34 feet.

So you can imagine what that type of storm, a category four storm, would bring with it. You heard Bill mention moments ago the 68 people who've perished in the Caribbean and the Grenada area, and also in Jamaica. Grenada, by the way, they still have 90 percent of the homes that have been damaged as a result of this storm.

In this particular area, there's something else that I think has moved people to heed the warnings, and do so in maybe a way that they haven't done so in an awful long time, speaking as a longtime Floridian. And that is the other two storms that preceded this one. Charley, many people believe, took a little bit of a different route and went to the East.

This particular storm, in comparison, seems to be headed, so say the forecasters for the area of Mobile, as Bill just said, or maybe Pensacola. They're concerned, well, what if it heads to the East the way Charley did? Then we'll be like the people of Punta Gorda. That's why people here have not been taking any chances.

Also, they followed the path of Francis, of seeing the destruction there, and have also used that to heed the warnings. We've really seen people leaving this area because it's a peninsula, in particular, and they're concerned that because of the storm surge, could divide this peninsula. A lot of people could be stuck, and that's why officials have forced them out. And they, for the most part, have responded aptly.

We'll be following things here for you as things change. Oh, one other thing. We just received a report a while ago that the Florida National Guard is staging over here in the Bay County Fairgrounds... they're going to be used or dispersed later on after the storm to go to the areas as they're needed. So we'll be following that development in this storm as well.

WHITFIELD: All right...

SANCHEZ: Rick Sanchez here in Panama City Beach. Back to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks a lot, Rick. Well, don't forget, we've got round the clock, wall to wall coverage of Hurricane Ivan. Stick with CNN, the most trusted name in news. Kyra...

PHILLIPS: Well, it looks like the storm warnings don't end with Ivan. As Jeanne churns in the on-deck circle, what's the likely path? The latest, live from the National Hurricane Center. Martha Stewart decides to get down to the business of serving time. Is it a good thing?

(MUSIC)

All right, well, I was actually supposed to try and sing, but I'm not going to do it. But how can you forget that guy? It's such a jungle sometimes, it makes you wonder why it took so long for these rap legends to get some overdo attention. Details later as LIVE FROM pulls out the Capezios, the silk shirts, and we're going to have a Grandmaster flashback.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a story we've been talking about for a number of days, actually a number of weeks now, and that's President George Bush and his service in the National Guard. He did speak before the Guard yesterday. And now, Scott McClellan, White House press secretary, has just responded to reporters asking him about the president and the Guard during a briefing. This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Scott, on the National Guard documents on "60 Minutes," the first lady says she believes these are forgeries. The RNC has accused the Democratic Party of being the source of these documents. Knowing then what you know now, would you still have released those documents when you did?

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, that's a hypothetical question, John. I mean, we received those documents from a major news organization. We had every reason to believe that they were authentic at that time. And in keeping with the spirit of releasing documents and being open about all the documents that we have, we made those documents available to everybody else so you could look at them yourselves.

Since that time, there have been a number of questions that have been raised about these documents and their authenticity. There continue to be questions raised. Those are serious issues. They ought to be looked into fully. The one thing that is not under question is the timing of these orchestrated attacks by the Democrats on the president's service.

These are old, recycled attacks, and the Democrats have made it clear that they intend to try to tear down the president and throw the kitchen sink at us, because they can't run on John Kerry's record, and because they see him falling behind in the polls, and that's what this is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Once again, just reviewing, the documents that CBS reported about, whether President Bush served rightfully in the National Guard or not. Once again, Scott McClellan coming forward, saying that they stand by the documents that they released. CBS also standing by its report. Fred...

WHITFIELD: Turning now to Iraq, three headless bodies were found along a road north of Baghdad. Authorities aren't sure where the men were from, or if they had been hostages. Iraqi militants have freed one hostage from Turkey. You're looking at video that was obtained by Associated Press Television News. The man was working as a translator when he was abducted almost two months ago.

Elsewhere, U.S. troops clashed with insurgents in Ramadi, which is in the Sunni Triangle. Eleven Iraqis were killed.

And now, to Beslan, Russia, where a shattered community is doing its best to return to some normalcy two weeks after the horrifying terrorist siege that took hundreds of lives, many of them children. CNN's Ryan Chilcote reports as classes resume at a different Beslan school, and as the students cope with the kinds of fears that go far beyond a routine case of first day jitters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're standing out in front of one of the schools just down the street from school number one. That is where the hostage crisis played out nearly two weeks ago. School just ended here. The teachers didn't keep the kids for very long. They just kept them for one class.

Now, traditionally in Russia, that first class on the first day is dedicated to a discussion about peace. Normally, it's about World War II. But here in Beslan, given the hostage-taking crisis, it was dedicated, of course, to the events that took place here, that began on September 1. They also paused for a minute of silence to remember those who passed away in that hostage crisis, including some 200 children.

Now, attendance was very low. The class we visited was a group of second graders. There should have been 30 kids in the class, but there were just five. And that is one of the big concerns here. The children are just too scared to go back to school, even those who weren't in school number one, who weren't hostages. Most of them know someone who was. Most of them know someone who was wounded or killed in that siege.

Now, the teachers are hoping to build on those numbers, build the confidence among the children that it is safe. That's why they have this security out here in front of the schools today. Those kids who survived that hostage crisis have been given two months leave. They're going to be sent to resort towns in the South of the country so that they can prepare themselves to go back to school. Ryan Chilcote, CNN, Beslan, Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: While Russia grieves those who were lost in the Beslan school siege and other recent attacks, terror experts note a disturbing trend: the increasing participation of women as suicide bombers. Coming up in the next half hour of LIVE FROM, a special report on the "Sisters in Terror." What drives these women to kill, and why they are being actively recruited.

PHILLIPS: Next on LIVE FROM, domestic diva and convicted felon Martha Stewart takes one for the stockholders. Later, why would anyone stay in New Orleans with Ivan approaching? LIVE FROM checks in with some friends of the show choosing to tough it out. And Thursday, D. Trump, the cutthroat game America couldn't stop watching. Now, "Apprentice" winner Bill Rancic in the house. We'll get some business advice from the savvy competitor tomorrow on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Martha Stewart, known for her take charge attitude at work, demonstrated the same determination today. In a late morning news conference, she announced that she's asked the judge in her case to let her report for her five-month jail sentence as soon as possible. Stewart was sentenced in July on felony charges related to a stock sale almost three years ago. She mentioned regret at missing holidays like Halloween and being separated from her pets, including her chickens, but says she needs to put the whole thing behind her for personal and professional reasons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTHA STEWART: The only way to reclaim my life, and the quality of life for all those related to me, with certainty, now, is to serve my sentence, surrender to the authorities, so that I can quickly return, as soon as possible, to the life and the work that I love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: In other celebrity legal news, the only court Kobe Bryant is concerned about these days is the basketball court. But it's the State of Colorado that's left with nothing but net... net costs, that is. Documents show that prosecutors racked up nearly $400,000 in charges while putting together a felony sexual assault case against the NBA star, a case that was dismissed September 1st, at the plaintiff's request.

The expenses include $75,000 for expert witnesses and travel, $76,000 for a spokeswoman for the lead prosecutor, Mark Hurlbert, and another $35,000 for service to track all of the news coverage.

PHILLIPS: Businesses along the gulf are bracing for Hurricane Ivan. We're talking about businesses all along the gulf coast now. Rhonda Schaffler joins us from the New York Stock Exchange...

(BUSINESS REPORT)

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