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Old Growth Oaks Downed By Katrina Will Be Used To Restore Historical Whaling Vessel; Missing Jersey City Teen Found By Cabbie

Aired March 09, 2006 - 10:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN LIVE TODAY: FEMA is blaming, at least in part, an oversight by the state.
At any moment we'll learn about a lawsuit filed by a victim of last year's courthouse shooting rampage in Atlanta. It's being filed by the sheriff's deputy who was overpowered and had her gun taken before inmate Brian Nichols allegedly went on to kill four people. Deputy Cynthia Hall suffered a brain injury in that beating. Her attorney will outline the lawsuit.

The future is at your fingertips at least with folks at today's high tech unveiling. This is the source of the buzz; it's a miniature laptop that doesn't need a keyboard. Microsoft teamed up with electronics maker Samsung and chip maker Intel to create the compact touch screen device. Should hit stores in April and costs less than a thousand bucks.

Hurricane Katrina not only destroyed lives when it struck the Gulf Coast it also destroyed history. But now, part of that history lives on.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in tears, just thrilled that such a beautiful living thing was going to have a second life.

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KAGAN: Huge beautiful oak trees are helping to save another piece of history when CNN LIVE TODAY rolls on.

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KAGAN: We want to show you a live picture from a tower cam in Little Rock, Arkansas. You can see ominous skies there is in Little Rock. Our thanks to our affiliate KTHV for those pictures. As we were hearing earlier, a good chance of severe weather in the Little Rock area. We'll have more with Reynolds Wolf on that our new CNN meteorologist in just a little bit.

Meanwhile, let's check in on New Orleans. It may have been a sign of things to come. How about this? A sporting event; perhaps a chance for rebuilding weary resident to take a break. The NBA's Hornets returned to the home nest for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. The New Orleans arena was sold out for last night's game with the LA Lakers. The team is committed to two more games in New Orleans this year. The NBA has said the team will return the season after next, but the Hornets owner is taking a wait and see attitude. The Lakers, by the way, beat the Hornets last night.

Before the game, members of the Hornets and Lakers helped out at a Habitat for Humanity home building. This construction site is in New Orleans Ninth Ward. Habitat hopes to build up to 200 houses in the city. Some former NBA stars also joined the project yesterday. Even Commissioner David Stern showed up to hammer in some nails.

And now a talk about a cool building project. Listen to this one. You all know those beautiful old live oak trees along the Gulf Coast? The ones that came down in Hurricane Katrina. Well some of them are being recycled as part of a restoration. One that began hundreds of miles away, and 160 years ago. CNN's Daniel Sieberg joins us from New York with more on that story.

That's pretty cool. Looks like you had some of those trees transported to New York, Daniel?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: I do, Daryn. I'll get to that in just a few minutes.

In a sense the trees are being given a second life. It's history becoming part of history, if you will. Because you see these trees are now becoming part of a bond between the Gulf Coast and Mystic Seaport, Connecticut, a bond that is stronger than oak.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just ten feet. That's great.

SIEBERG (voice over): Another load of trees on the Mississippi coast, up rooted by Hurricane Katrina. Ready to be hauled off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How close you think you can get to the root on this one? This wood is not headed for a landfill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is 16 at the hard center, we only need 10.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In your a good shape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yeah. We'll probably get three good slabs out of that one.

SIEBER: Live oaks that shaded generations of Gulf Coast residents are headed for a new mission to restore one of the last wooden sailing ships in the world. Quentin Snediker is shipyard director at Mystic Seaport.

QUENTIN SNEDIKER, SHIPYARD DIRECTOR, MYSTIC SEAPORT: Live oak in the age of wooden ships was the best available ship timber. It's strong and dense. And the fact we're able to salvage the material from the storm brings a little bit of good in light of the terrible human tragedy.

SIEBERG: Peggy and Jim Romain lost everything when the storm hit. Still they are thrilled to donate their beloved live oaks.

PEGGY ROMAIN, LIVE OAK DONOR: It was so big. It dwarfed the house. Unfortunately, it didn't make it, but now it's gone up to Mystic, which I'm really happy about.

JIM ROMAIN, LIVE OAK DONOR: I was in tears. I was just thrilled that such a beautiful living thing was going to have a second life.

SIEBERG: Four generations of the family enjoyed these trees in Pass Christian.

JIM CURRIE, LIVE OAK DONOR: A great place to go put a hammock out in the summertime, underneath one and lie around in the shade.

SIEBERG: Three of their oaks will live on.

LAURIE CURRIE, LIVE OAK DONOR: It was wonderful to hear that something good was going to be done with the trees instead of having them just rot on the ground.

SIEBERG: These trees were on Jefferson Davis' lawn when he live here at a mansion called Beauvoir. Katrina hit it hard.

PATRICK HOTARD, BEAUVOIR, DIRECTOR: Museums, being nonprofit entities, are always trying to find ways to assist one another with their special projects. This is a wonderful use of wood from the Jeff Davis property.

SNEDIKER: This is one thing our sawers don't like, finding iron in the trees.

SIEBERG: Nearly 1500 miles away in Mystic, Connecticut, 200 tons of these trees will be used to restore the Charles W. Morgan.

SNEDIKER: The Morgan was built in 1841, 160-odd years old. Some of the trees are probably just about that age. We'll turn all this into 10-inch thick slabs. Pile them up. Matching similar curves in similar piles and then when our ship wrights get to actually restoring the ships, they will make patterns of the specific pieces of frame that they are removing, take those patterns out and match the curve as nearly as possible.

They are down to about here. This is the area that we'll be replacing for the most of the mid-body of the ship.

This would have been the space in which the senior crew, the officers, would have dined.

SIEBERG: As we descend deep into the ship, below the water line, we see where it's in need of some repair.

(on camera): Part of what makes live oak so appealing to Quentin and his team is the natural curvature of the wood. That trait makes it useless for most home builders but perfect for replacing these vertical ribs on the ship. SNEDIKER: The new frame will be installed exactly as the old frame came out. That way we'll retain the structural design and integrity of the authentic vessel.

Again, why I love looking at the structure, you just think of the individuals who toiled to fashion each individual piece, their live, their families.

SIEBERG: And to think of the cost of Katrina and that those trees are part of that event, and now become part of this ship. It's kind of an amazing combination between the two.

SNEDIKER: Yes, I think that it will be -- become significant part of her history as she goes on into the next century.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All hands had supper. Set to watch for the night. So ends this day, all well.

SIEBERG: Whaling was a brutal business in its day, and whale oil was of great value.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the logbook from the first voyage of the Morgan, September 16, 1841. When you see the fins down -- that means they actually lost the whales -- when you see the picture, they caught the whale.

SIEBERG: Ship wrights at the maritime museum are now restoring the schooner, Will Ann (ph). In the fall of 2007 they will begin the painstaking work on the Morgan.

SNEDIKER: This is the first piece of live oak we've actually milled that came from Hurricane Katrina. You know, and opening a tree like this is almost like opening a Christmas gift you never know exactly what you're going to find inside. This one is opened up perfectly. And so auspicious start to our processing the first one.

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SIEBERG: A small piece of good news to come out of the Gulf Coast and here beside me I do have some of the first log that was milled there up in Mystic Seaport. This is some amazing wood, Daryn this live oak.

I would lift it right now but I probably drop it and break something valuable here in the studio. This piece is about six feet high. I'm sitting down. One inch thick but it weighs about 50 to 60 pounds. Extremely strong, so great for shipbuilding. In fact, in it's history it was used to help repel canon balls on certain ships. So, a incredible stuff. Just a beautiful piece of wood. So, nice to bring these two groups together; a lot of volunteer coordination going on behind the scenes with this, too, Daryn.

KAGAN: Nice to know the trees get a second life. Daniel, thank you.

SIEBERG: You bet. KAGAN: This just in to CNN: We have been following the story of this Jersey City, New Jersey girl who disappeared on Monday on her way to school. Has been sending these text messages to her mother saying that she is being held against her will. Apparently the girl has now been found. Not reunited with her parents yet, but she has been found. On the phone with us right now, we have a CNN Producer Ronni Berke, who I believe has talked to the girl's father.

Ronni, what can you tell us?

RONNI BURKE, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, good morning, Daryn.

I spoke just a few minutes ago to her father, Robert Brownie (ph), who says that indeed they had gotten a call early this morning from a New York City cabdriver, saying that he had located the girl. She was in the cab. She was in some kind after state of shock. And immediately Natasha's mother, Estella (ph) went off to New York City. She has been reunited with her according to the father.

Now, Natasha, had disappeared, had vanished after not showing up at school Monday morning. And the reason why we heard about her is because her family went public a couple of days ago, telling us that she had sent text messages on her cell phone to her mother pleading for help. And they hadn't had any sign of her and police were trying to track the cell phone messages.

The home computer was taken by police, where they think she may have arranged a meeting with someone on Monday. And then after that things began to unravel. She disappeared.

So good news for Natasha's mother. She has been reunited her daughter. The father expects her to come back home today in Jersey City.

KAGAN: But still a lot of questions about what happened to this girl and where she's been the last few days. For instance, with the text messages we know they were sent from her phone. We don't know for sure that she's the one that sent them?

BERKE: We don't know for sure, but there was interaction with her mother. Her mother responded and she responded to her mother. We do not know for sure, exactly what happened. The police were asked at a press conference yesterday if this was possibly a hoax. And they couldn't confirm or deny anything. They are still investigating. One thing they were certain about, and kept repeating to us, is they felt she had arranged meeting with someone that she had met online.

KAGAN: Oh.

BERKE: And never showed up at school on Monday. So it -- the details are still coming out about that. But we are hearing she is safe and has been found.

KAGAN: That's the important news there. We will look forward to filling in some of the holes, and the details about the rest of the story, about what has happened to this young girl over the last few days.

Ronni Berke, thank you for the latest on that.

Ahead how things add up today on Wall Street. And bad numbers for the tobacco industry, cigarette sales go up in smoke.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Americans seem to be heading the decades old warning on cigarette smoking. New figures show that cigarette sales hit a 55- year low last year. It is worth noting the U.S. population has more than doubled during that time. Last year sales marked a 21 percent drop since the landmark settlement with the tobacco industry about eight years ago. The numbers are released by the National Association of Attorneys General, which is also trying to crackdown on under age sales. Tobacco causes more than 400,000 deaths a year in the U.S. making it largest preventable cause of death.

Business news: From cigarettes to sodas, it seems that Americans are also cutting back on the soda intake. Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange for a check on the early action on Wall Street.

I guess, I'm not part of that.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I have my bottled water nearby. You have your bottled water nearby.

KAGAN: No, no, no, this is soda.

LISOVICZ: It is?!

KAGAN: That was my confession there on national TV, yeah.

LISOVICZ: Daryn!

KAGAN: I know. It's my one bottle a day.

LISOVICZ: You're such a contrarian.

But you know it's actually interesting because we are seeing soda growth slow and not only -- I wasn't able to read the fine print on Daryn -- Daryn's bottle. I don't know if it was diet soda or not, even diet is showing signs of slowing growth.

Americans aren't kicking the habit altogether, but soda sales are definitely on decline, according to the industry trade publication "Beverage Digest". The number of cases of soda sold in the U.S. fell last year. The first time that has happened since the publication began tracking sales two decades ago.

The beverage industry is still cashing in. No worries there is because Americans have been steadily buying more bottled water. I'm one of their customers. Sports drinks, premium coffees, and other noncarbonated beverages, like teas. Analysts also blame the downturn to a lack of soft drink innovation. More flavors, please. And increasing concerns about obesity.

On Wall Street, well, we have some good news there, as well. Stocks getting a boost in the early going on optimism about the global economy. Right now the Dow industrials are up 28 point, or a quarter of a percent. The Nasdaq is up 6 points, better than a quarter of a percent.

Shares of TIVO are recording, pun intended there, a 5 percent gain. The maker of the popular set top digital video recorder said its fourth quarter loss narrowed. This as more people signed up for the service. TIVO also announced big changes to its pricing plan. Subscribers will no longer have to pay upfront for the boxes, instead they will pay $19.95 a month for a one-year commitment. There are also deals for two and three year commitments.

Daryn, it comes as no surprise to some of us business reporters, that these deals come as competition heats up in the DVR arena. A lot of cable networks now offer these kind of personal digital reporting devices themselves.

KAGAN: Have you made the leap? Are you doing it?

LISOVICZ: No, I was just saying, I'm so old fashioned. I watch live TV.

KAGAN: Yeah.

LISOVICZ: Too much live TV.

KAGAN: I still have VCR. I have the machine. It's in my closet I haven't hooked it up. So, no big urgency there. Susan, thank you.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

KAGAN: This just in to CNN, a hostage situation. This is happening in France. Police there say an armed former teacher is holding about 20 hostages, including students. It's happening in the classroom in France. Once again, that's in Le Mans, France in the Chateau Region. More on that as that becomes available.

Also a lot more news and more on the severe weather that could be taking place in the Arkansas area, just ahead after this.

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KAGAN: New church abuse allegations. This one implicates the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. His name is William Skilstadt. He is also leader of the Spokane, Washington Diocese. A woman says he sexually abused her more than 40 years ago. The claim filed last December alleges the attacks happened at St. Patrick Parish and at Gonzaga University from 1961 to '64. Skilstadt was a student at Gonzaga and taught at a nearby seminary during that time. Bishop Skilstadt has issued a statement denying the accusation, saying he has not violated the vow of celibacy that he took 47 years ago. It's a case are cyber seduction. Teenagers playing around on the popular Myspace.com social site, have managed to net a suspected sex offender. This happened in Fontana, California, where police say 48- year-old Michael Ramos thought he was meeting a 15-year-old girl for sex. Instead he's now behind bars charged with sex crimes.

The interesting thing here is how he was caught Ramos was caught. The teens had created a phony profile describing a 15-year-old girl named Jessica. The profile attracted suggestive e-mail from an older man.

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MITCH: He was 48 years old, and this was supposed to be a girl who is 15. So you already know there's something suspicious when he's talking to this much and he was saying, age doesn't matter to me and stuff. So me that is just enough right there to arrest him under suspicion. So we knew this guy was up to something.

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KAGAN: Myspace.com says it soon will screen members in an effort to prevent crime.

Alleged obscene cell phone caller has also been nabbed. Authorities in Coshocton, Ohio have arrested a man accused of making more than 2600 calls to random cell phone numbers in a 20-day period. James Hood is charged with offering money for sex. He out on bond now, but he's been ordered to stay off the phone and the Internet while his case is pending.

A controversial move in Arizona. The state's governor orders the National Guard to send troops to the border to help combat illegal immigration. We're going to talk with the Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth, about what he thinks about that.

The cat is out of the bag, Microsoft has unveiled it's Origami Project. But is the final project worth the hype and worth your money? The second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins after a quick break.

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KAGAN: Let's take a look at what's happening right "Now in the News":

At the top of the hour, "The Boston Herald" reporting a New York bouncer who has been questioned in the murder of a graduate student, could be charged today on unrelated sexual assault charges. Daryl Little John is being held on a parole violation. He's been questioned in the death of a

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