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FEMA Rushes to Aid Tornado Victims; Atlanta Native Competing in Masters
Aired April 07, 2006 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST: Some severe weather in the southeast. Let's go straight to CNN's meteorologist, Reynolds Wolf.
Reynolds, how is it looking?
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: All right, a good part of the country there under close watch. Thanks a lot, Reynolds.
Whatever the storm, devastated communities often look to the government for help. Some say one agency, FEMA, failed miserably in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. That agency is now out to improve its image, starting in tornado-ravaged Tennessee.
Here's Jonathan Freed with a story you first saw on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY JANE THOMPSON, TORNADO VICTIM: This is where we came out.
JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Mary Jane Thompson emerged from her basement after last Sunday's tornado in Tennessee, this is all that was left of her home of 11 years.
THOMPSON: And this is our bedroom.
FREED: The Thompson family is going to turn for help to the agency Mary Jane heard a lot about after Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And she says FEMA's press wasn't exactly good.
THOMPSON: I don't really know what FEMA is all about. What I heard about Katrina, how -- what a screw up FEMA was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And as soon as the people make their 1-800- number, call FEMA, then they'll be in the program and we can start housing people immediately.
FREED: FEMA was already on the ground in Tennessee, meeting with local emergency management teams, when President Bush issued a disaster declaration on Wednesday, freeing up federal aid for the state.
We told FEMA about Mary Jane Thompson's impression of the agency. FEMA says it's trying to address its public image, as the 2006 storm season gets under way.
MARY HUDACK, SPOKESPERSON, FEMA: Each time we go out, we learn something that might help us be a little better, and those lessons indeed are incorporated as we're working through tornado season and approaching the upcoming hurricane season.
FREED: Scott Jewel is Mary Jane's mayor here in Dyer, Tennessee.
SCOTT JEWEL, MAYOR, DYER, TENNESSEE: I asked the question back in Katrina if something like this happened in my home town what I would do.
FREED: Jewel and the mayors of neighboring communities, all hit by Sunday's twister, are eager to work with FEMA to make sure everything from aid money to temporary housing trailers move into their towns quickly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a war zone.
FREED: CNN went along with FEMA as it took a driving tour of Mary Jane's neighborhood, right past her house, assessing damage for a report to the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Extensive roof damage over here.
THOMPSON: I don't really know what to expect from FEMA. I've never been in a situation like this.
FREED: Mary Jane hopes she and others applying for federal aid this season will benefit from the lessons FEMA learned last year on the Gulf Coast.
Jonathan fried, CNN, dyer, Tennessee.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And start your morning off right, join Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien on "AMERICAN MORNING", weekdays beginning at 6 a.m. Eastern.
Overhaul at FEMA. President Bush has nominated David Paulison as permanent head of the agency. Paulison took over for Michael Brown. Brown quit after FEMA's slow and clumsy response to Katrina.
Paulison is a veteran firefighter. He was also director of FEMA's emergency preparedness unit. In that role, he advised us to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting in the event of a terror attack. The Senate must confirm Paulison.
When we come back, a convoy of trucks, a dead-end road, and then ambush in Iraq. One man got the whole thing on camera. We'll share his story. More of LIVE FROM next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A pretty big employment report is grabbing the spotlight on Wall Street today. Susan Lisovicz is live from New York Stock Exchange with more on that. A little bit of the good and the bad and the ugly. Yes.
(STOCK REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Moments ago, Reynolds Wolf warned us that this is something that just might happen. Now it looks like it has -- Reynolds.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Reynolds.
Well, the news keeps coming and we'll keep bringing it to you. More of LIVE FROM, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: We've heard it before: golfers are often stereotyped as country club athletes born into lives of wealth and privileged, but that's not always the case. Our Larry Smith joins us now from the masters tournament from Augusta, Georgia, with some very interesting stories out there -- Larry.
LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a pretty good story. Absolutely, Fredricka. Round two is on the way right now. Tiger Woods just teeing off on his first hole.
But you know, there are 16 players making their masters debut in this year's 2006 field. And one of them knows the course even better than the rest. His name is Vaughn Taylor. He is the fourth Augusta native to play in the masters and the second to actually live in Augusta while playing; not only a native but also lives here as well.
Vaughn Taylor, what a great story. Thirty-year-old. Grew up in a blue-collar existence here in Augusta and attended Augusta State University. Why? Because it was the only school to offer him a scholarship, and now here he is getting accolades for his play.
Even Taylor's parents couldn't believe the news when he called to tell them he had qualified for the masters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAUGHN TAYLOR, COMPETING IN MASTERS: I had gotten home from -- I drove all night home from Tampa. I sat up -- I guess it was about 2 in the morning and kind of got the calculator out and did some math, and I figured there was no way that I could get knocked out. And called my parents and you know, no one -- no one believed me. They are like, you've got to go play next week. I was like, no, I think I'm -- you know, I'm in. And nobody wanted to listen to me. I continuing took everybody two, three days to finally go, OK. I think you're finally in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Notice he did the math. So it helps, that's right, learn your math along the way that you can count up all of money, too, when you win it as well.
Taylor, by the way, played in the shadow of his good friend, Charles Howell III, growing up in Augusta but now trying to take some of the spotlight here at Augusta national. He is on the course, as well, trying to make the cut for the weekend.
Again, Tiger Woods, defending champion, four-time masters winner. He's even par heading into the second round. He just teed off. Vijay Singh just teed off, as well. He is the leader at five under par. John Campbell (ph) has caught him, though, also, at five under par, still on the course.
Let's go back to you.
WHITFIELD: So, Larry, back to Vaughn though, after he's gotten over, you know, the shock factor that he's in, his family, it's now sunk in with him that OK, it's true. You're there. Has he explained what it's been like to be playing alongside folks that he's admired for so long?
SMITH: Well, he was really excited yesterday when we talked to him. You heard there that he told a story, what a phenomenal story that was. You know, I'm curious to talk to him later today after -- once he's made the cut, if he does that. And right now he's in good shape to do that, if he continues to play well. And to find out what he thinks it will feel like this weekend to play and actually compete for a green jacket.
WHITFIELD: All right, Larry Smith. Thanks so much from Augusta.
A terrifying trip down a mountainside. Riding an avalanche in an SUV, no less. One family's amazing story straight ahead here on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The White House is refusing to make specific comments about court documents that link President Bush to a White House intelligence leak. According to legal filings, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis Libby, says that he was told by Cheney that President Bush himself authorized the leak of intelligence information about Iraq.
At a White House briefing last hour, press secretary Scott McClellan said the president remains opposed to the release of the classified information.
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