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CNN Sunday Morning

Katrina Missing Stirs Anger; Another Coal Mine Accident; Breaking Down Bin Laden's Tape; Two Miners Found Dead in West Virginia Mine; Mississippi Family Fights Insurance Company over Katrina Damage

Aired January 22, 2006 - 07:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: "Now in the News," still no word this morning out of Iraq on the status of abducted American journalist Jill Carroll. The 28-year-old freelance writer has been ransomed by insurgents. They're demanding the release of Iraqi female prisoners held by U.S. troops. Iraq's justice minister says he expects American forces to let six of those detainees go this week, but U.S. officials say no release is imminent.
Iraq's Diyala province is the latest flash point for insurgent violence. Nine people were killed this morning, four of them children. The children died in a rocket attack that targeted the home of an Iraqi police officer near Baquba. Three hours later, a roadside bomb in central Baquba killed four police officers.

Searches are under way for a Red Cross helicopter. It's thought to have crashed somewhere along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. A Red Cross spokesman says the chopper was bound for Pakistan yesterday with seven people on board. They were carrying aid for survivors of last October's massive earthquake.

And former president Gerald Ford remains in a Rancho Mirage, California, hospital this morning. Ford's chief of staff says Mr. Ford is responding to pneumonia treatments and his condition is improving. Ford was admitted into the hospital last week, still no word on when he might be allowed to go home.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta...

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: As the camera comes up this morning.

HARRIS: ... this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING. 7:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 3:00 p.m. in Baghdad.

And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.

NGUYEN: That's kind of a magical power that you have there, Tony.

HARRIS: It was.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen.

We want to thank you for being with us today.

Coming up in hour first hour this morning, despair in West Virginia as two more coal miners die on the job. With two fatal accidents in three weeks, the Bush administration and West Virginia leaders are putting miners' safety back under a microscope.

And it's a rough road for Ford Motor Company and even rougher for many workers. Ford announces tomorrow just how many assembly jobs will go off line.

And "CNN PRESENTS: Warnings Ignored," the doomed space flight of Christa McAuliffe. Some knew that it was not a good day to launch, and we'll tell you more about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENISE HERBERT, MOTHER OF MISSING FROM KATRINA: What about these 3,000 and something people missing? And one of them is my mama! I'm sick of these people!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The anger and frustration are obvious as Katrina evacuees still come to grips with the hurricane's aftermath. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco held a recovery planning day for displaced storm victims across the South, but as CNN's Gary Tuchman found out, many Louisianans can't address their future without some closure from the past.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Louisiana's governor came to Georgia to some of the Louisiana Diaspora.

GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: When do you think you'll be back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was hoping yesterday, but I guess it's not going to be for awhile.

TUCHMAN: Louisianans who have lost their homes, moved to Georgia, and got a chance to talk to Governor Kathleen Blanco.

BLANCO: Hello. How are you?

How are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't wait to get back home. I'm trying really hard now, but I'm out here by myself. And never had to be out here by myself.

TUCHMAN: This was all part of Louisiana Recovery Planning Day. Hurricane victims showed up here and at 30 other locations in Tennessee, Texas and Louisiana to offer suggestions about the rebuilding of their neighborhoods and their lives. But it was emotion that captured the occasion.

I talked with one woman whose 82-year-old mother is still missing. Ethel Herbert (ph) was a stroke victim who could not talk. She was on a hospital bed at the Superdome when her daughter last saw her leaving with medical personnel.

HERBERT: They took her hospital mattress and put it on this truck, and they took her around to the Superdome.

TUCHMAN (on camera): How does it make you feel?

HERBERT: I'm very angry, because guess what? Everybody in America got a mama. Where is mine? That's what I want to know today, where is my mother? And I'm angry with the world!

And they can parade around here and talk about Mardi Gras and what they want to do with New Orleans. Well, what about these 3,000 and some people missing? And one of them is my mama!

I'm sick of these people! I really am sick of these people! You're told you can save a whale, you can save all these animals, but you couldn't save all these people.

And I'm tired. And I want the governor and I want the mayor and I want the president, I want all three of them to come before her six children and tell us where she is. We didn't leave her in New Orleans. We didn't leave her in a house. We left her in what they called the hands of the world's finest.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Denise Herbert's outrage quickly caught the attention of the governor, who took over my seat. They talked about the chaos in the days after Hurricane Katrina, and then Governor Blanco called her secretary of health and hospitals and told him to get on the case.

BLANCO: He will make a few calls and then call you back. And we will -- we'll just pray with you. Try to find something out.

TUCHMAN: Almost five months after Katrina, the nightmare is still fresh.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Boy.

Some grim points of interest worth noting. In all, Louisiana officials put Katrina's death toll at just over 1,100, but there are more than 3,200 people still unaccounted for in New Orleans. Officials are trying to locate the missing by backtracking previous addresses. And we'll let you know if and when Denise Herbert ever finds her missing mother.

NGUYEN: The faces of grieving family members tell the story. The bodies of two West Virginia coal miners have been recovered. It comes two days after a conveyor belt caught fire, sending thick smoke and carbon monoxide through the mine.

CNN's Bob Franken is following the story and he joins us now from Melville, West Virginia.

Bob, another difficult day for this mining community.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly it is, and of course the coal mining culture is a history that includes so much tragedy, the tragedy which centered behind me at the Bright Star Free Will Baptist Church just down the road, a few hundred yards from the one that leads up to the mine. It was the Aracoma Mine where on Thursday, at about 5:30 p.m., two of the miners went missing after a search that was intense and really quite massive.

Their bodies were discovered yesterday. So the vigil this time ended in tragedy, and tragedy that has really incensed many people in the political community who believes that the coal industry has oftentimes been lax in providing the safety measures that are needed. It's something that has engendered some strong feelings from the governor of the state, Joe Manchin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOE MANCHIN (D), WEST VIRGINIA: This has got to stop, and it's going to stop. We're going to change. And we have -- as you know, we have investigations going on at Sago, where we lost 12, 12 of our brave miners, and now at Aracoma we lost two of our brave miners. We have 14 families that are changed forever, 14 families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: There have been throughout the history of coal mining hard feelings between the coal mine operators and the miners and their advocates. There coincidentally is going to be a hearing in Washington tomorrow, a congressional hearing about this matter amid criticism that the Bush administration has gotten lax over time in favor of the coal operators, but the agency and the Bush administers this, has put out a statement saying the time has come to review the safety measures that are incorporated into the mines.

While all that discussion is going on, the people here at this church and around Logan County, West Virginia, will mourn the loss of two more miners -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Such a tragic story. Bob Franken, thank you.

And coming up at the half-hour, CNN's Tom Foreman will take a closer look at the dangers of coal mining and what's being done to make it safer for workers.

HARRIS: Stories making news "Across America" now.

A television news photographer responds to this car fire in St. Louis and takes on the added job of rescuer. The photographer from station KTVI managed to keep his camera rolling.

Take a look at this, as he pulled an injured man away from his burning vehicle. Wow. The man is listed in good condition today.

Brother.

A five-alarm fire has swept through a commercial building in New York City's trendy Soho district. Four people, including three firefighters, have been injured. Crews are still trying to control the blaze early this morning. It is unclear how serious the injuries are.

The mother of Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James makes a court appearance in Akron, Ohio, tomorrow. Gloria James was arrested over the weekend and charged with driving while intoxicated, disorderly conduct, and damaging police equipment.

Two off-duty police officers say she almost hit their car and was weaving in and out of traffic. They also say she kicked out the back window of a police cruiser.

NGUYEN: Well, we do have a sad update for you this morning. Despite all the well wishes and people just really cheering on this wayward whale in London's Thames River, that whale didn't survive the stress of moving.

It suffered a series of convulsions, even after we were told that its health was A-OK. Those convulsions occurred while being transported on a barge to open water.

Now, we followed all of this live yesterday morning. The attempted rescue of the bottlenose whale captivated millions and drew thousands of Londoners to the banks of the Thames. Marine experts say the whale was already dehydrated and hadn't been feeding. It had made a wrong turn from open seas into the shallow Thames, and eventually the effect of being out of the water was too much.

The whale was the first of its type to be seen in the Thames in nearly a century.

I just hate hearing that.

HARRIS: So the whale is dead.

NGUYEN: Yes, despite all of the best efforts, yes.

HARRIS: OK.

Still ahead, built for tough, but not tough enough, as another one of Detroit's big three prepares announce a massive round of layoffs.

NGUYEN: And tears and tiaras in Las Vegas. So many different things are racing through our minds, but it could only be Miss America. That's what we're talking about, folks.

So, who do you think won? We'll tell you. And we just showed you right there if you're looking at the TV, which hopefully you are if you're watching.

Bonnie, good morning. BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Here's a quick look at our top stories this morning.

Two explosions hit pipelines running through southern Russia today. That blast -- or both of those blasts cut the natural gas supply to Georgia and Armenia. And some mountain areas are left with just one day's supply amid a bitter cold snap.

Now to Iraq. Anxiety grows. There's still been no word on American reporter Jill Carroll since her captors released a videotape last Tuesday. The kidnapers threatened to kill Carroll unless the U.S. released all Iraqi women in their custody.

And a U.S. Army officer will be sentenced tomorrow for his role in the death of a detained Iraqi general. A military jury in Colorado convicted Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer of negligent homicide and negligent dereliction of duty. He escaped a conviction of murder which could have sent him to prison for life.

HARRIS: Well, he remains America's public enemy number one, and just last week a new audiotape lets us know Osama bin Laden's apparently still out there somewhere. He talks about new threats, as well as a possible truce.

What is going on here?

Sajjan Gohel is the director of international security for the Asia Pacific Group, and he joins us now from London.

Sajjan, good to see you. Good to talk to you.

Let me start by asking you, first of all, does this tape ring as authentic to you, authentic bin Laden?

SAJJAN GOHEL, ASIA PACIFIC FOUNDATION: Well, it does seem, Tony, that with the style and the nature and basically the rhetoric, it is a classical type of bin Laden statement. It makes criticisms of the West. It also talks about possible new attacks. And, of course, as is bin Laden, he will quote historical issues as well. So, yes, it does seem quite genuine.

HARRIS: Does it matter really if it isn't bin Laden? Does it -- at this point, how much does it really matter?

GOHEL: The problem is that Osama bin Laden himself has changed from being the leader of a terrorist group. He's trying to become, say, the leader of a movement.

His rhetoric is a lot more political. For example, he appealed to the American people and offered an alleged truce. Now, no one's going to take that seriously, but it shows that he's trying to create divisions internally. And what bin Laden says resonates and has impact.

I'll give you an example. He quoted a book that was -- that spoke of -- that criticized U.S. foreign policy. Now, that was ranked 200,000th on Amazon's sales. After he spoke, it's now in the top 20. Now, no one can resonate that much as bin Laden.

HARRIS: Yes. Well, is he running al Qaeda strategically, operationally, or is he just running?

GOHEL: That's a good point. Al Qaeda in itself is altered because of key arrests that have been made by the CIA and the FBI. The organization has been slowly dismantled, but it's evolved from being an organization, a terrorist group.

It's become an ideological movement. And you don't need bin Laden to give the green light for a terrorist attack.

The three major trustees (ph) last year, London, Bali, and Amman, Jordan, were all conducted by local groups. Now, they're bonded by the same ideology that bin Laden preaches, but they have their own leadership, their own financing, their own cell structure.

HARRIS: I have to ask you, Sajjan, you know, I understand the tape, and I take your point about him still being able to inspire and motivate attacks. But what has me more concerned, let's say, if I'm sitting here in Atlanta, or maybe I'm sitting in Davenport, Iowa, is what's going on in Pakistan right now, and the attack by the CIA in Pakistan, and the protests that have sprung up as a result of that attack.

In your view, was that a mistake?

GOHEL: Well, it shows that the U.S. is becoming a little uncertain as the role they're getting and the help from the Pakistanis. In the past, they would give the authorities in Pakistan key intelligence as to where suspected al Qaeda members were hiding. Suddenly, those people would end up escaping, and it's believed that information was being leaked.

Now, the U.S. intelligence agencies have come to the conclusion that some operations they'll have to conduct by themselves. And as we saw with that operation, it's unconceivable that the Pakistanis had no prior knowledge whatsoever. Because it didn't go well, perhaps, they're now trying -- the Pakistanis are trying to blame the U.S. entirely. And as a result, we saw a huge protest against Washington.

HARRIS: Yes.

GOHEL: And that in itself puts in jeopardy President Bush's proposed visit to Pakistan.

HARRIS: What does it do to President Musharraf? Does it compromise him in his country?

GOHEL: He is the head of the armed forces. He's also the president. He came to power by launching a coup against the democratically-elected prime minister in 1999.

Now, he claims that his position is sometimes uncertain, but he is -- he is a very powerful individual, and what he's done very cleverly is that, when it's convenient, he will find a low-level al Qaeda individual, hand him over to the U.S. and collect his paycheck. Pakistan receives billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

And there have been question marks as to how committed he really is. He hasn't closed down the religious schools that pump out anti- U.S. rhetoric. He hasn't dismantled the terrorist infrastructure that operates in the country. People are beginning to question what is he actually doing in the war on terrorism.

HARRIS: There's a nice note of cynicism in that. I like that.

Sajjan Gohel, thank you for talking to you.

GOHEL: My pleasure.

HARRIS: Sajjan Gohel, director of the international security group for the Asia Pacific organization.

And a reminder, you can stay with CNN day and night for the very latest on your security -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Tony, take a good look. There she is, right there, this year's Miss America. But who is she and where is she from?

We're going to tell you more about her when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss Oklahoma, Jennifer Berry!

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Yes, Miss America.

What do we think? Well, she's lovely, isn't she? Lovely woman.

NGUYEN: Yes. I'm trying to get a good look at her. There...

HARRIS: There we go. Well, the tears kind of -- well, the face is a little contorted from the...

NGUYEN: Well, you've got to cry when you win. You know how this goes.

HARRIS: It's a requisite, isn't it?

That's Jennifer Berry, 22 years old, an aspiring teacher from Oklahoma. Let's see what else is here. She was crowned Las Vegas last night. Miss Georgia, Monica Pang...

NGUYEN: Yes.

HARRIS: ... was a runner-up. First time the pageant was held outside of Atlantic City, first time -- no more pictures of that?

What are you looking at me for?

NGUYEN: Well, let me -- let me just tell you, we had a big discussion about what we were throwing up here, not only the video, but there were swimsuit pictures that you and some of our producers really wanted on the air. And obviously we ran out of video. What's that all about?

HARRIS: I wasn't lobbying for those.

NGUYEN: I just wanted to throw that out so people at home know.

HARRIS: Well, it's part of the competition.

NGUYEN: Oh, OK. That's why you wanted that.

HARRIS: The various phases of the competition. There's the crowning moment, of course.

NGUYEN: Yes.

HARRIS: But there's also the swimsuit competition. It's a competion.

NGUYEN: Yes.

HARRIS: It's a competition.

NGUYEN: Yes. OK, Tony.

HARRIS: There are judges with scores.

NGUYEN: Bonnie, are you buying this?

SCHNEIDER: No.

NGUYEN: Yes, exactly. But you know what? What you couldn't buy -- in Texas, that is -- gosh, for weeks was some rain.

SCHNEIDER: Thirty-two days. This is finally some great news.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Outstanding.

NGUYEN: We all have high hopes today.

HARRIS: Sure -- high apple pie in the sky... Here's our e-mail question. We just want to gauge your thinking on this.

You know, we know that you're interested in the NFC and the AFC championship games.

NGUYEN: Totally.

HARRIS: Oh, I'm sorry, there are no Texas teams involved.

Here is the e-mail question: Who do you think about win? Are we asking win or make it to the Super Bowl? I guess...

NGUYEN: Which team do you think will win...

HARRIS: And why?

NGUYEN: ... and why?

HARRIS: All right. WEEKENDS@CNN.com.

We'll take a break and come back with more CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENISE HERBERT, MOTHER MISSING FROM KATRINA: What about these 3,000 and some people missing and one of them missing is my mama! I'm sick of these people!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, nearly five months later and Hurricane Katrina victims are still searching for answers. So frustrated, will their voices be heard?

From the CNN Center, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING, January 22nd. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Thank you for being with us. That story in a moment. But first other headlines "Now in the News."

Another West Virginia community is in mourning today. Yesterday, the bodies of two coal miners trapped underground in a fire were recovered. The men had been trapped since Thursday night. Rescue teams had difficulty getting to them because of heavy smoke and high levels of carbon monoxide. In just a minute CNN's Bob Franken will have a live report from Melville.

Two weeks after American hostage Jill Carroll was kidnapped in Baghdad, the U.S. is showing no signs it plans to negotiate with the captors. The captors have demanded the release of all Iraqi women being held by the U.S. military. There is still no fate on the fate of the 28-year-old freelance journalist. A U.S. Army officer faces up to three years in prison after being convicted in the death of an Iraqi general at a detention camp. Yesterday, military jurors rejected the more severe charge of murder, convicting Lewis Welshofer Jr. of negligent homicide and dereliction of duty. He's accused of putting a sleeping bag over the general's head and sitting on his chest while interrogating him in 2003.

NGUYEN: The second mining tragedy in three weeks has left another West Virginia community grieving. Yesterday the bodies of two miners were found and many people in the state and country are calling for new safety measures. CNN's Bob Franken joins us live from Melville, West Virginia.

Bob, the news that no one really wanted to hear did come yesterday.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You see behind me, Betty, the so stereotypical scene in West Virginia. A small church in one of the hollows of Logan County, next to a coal mine and regrettably what has happened here has been so typical of the history of the state that is so reliant on the coal industry.

More tragedy in the mines, this after a frantic search for two miners who on Thursday evening had gotten separated from others leaving after a fire in the Aracoma mine, their bodies were found. The search had produced the sad result. And so the people who had gathered behind at the Bright Star Freewell (ph) Baptist Church who are now coming out, the families and friends, in tears, heavy hearts, that accompanied, as it has so many times, the history of coal mining.

And as a matter of fact, as a result of all this, there is now going to be a new push by the politicians to say that for too long the coal operators have not provided the equipment and safety material that is needed to protect the miners. The coal operators say that over the years they have made tremendous strides in making this dangerous profession as safe as it could be. But one of the two senators of this state, Jay Rockefeller, says maybe now is the time to act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D), WEST VIRGINIA: When people get mad, they're more likely to do something. And I think when I go back to Congress on Tuesday to meet with the governor, what's happened at Sago and what happened here, there are going to be a lot of mad people. These are human beings, and when you see them go through what they go through, you're never the same. You have helped America understand that. I think we're going to see change. We have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And there is going to be a hearing in Congress, coincidently scheduled tomorrow while here in the coal fields people are just going to mourn another tragedy in the coal mines -- Betty.

NGUYEN: Bob, we hear about legislation that's being worked so that new laws can be passed, stricter laws. But let me ask you about mining companies themselves. Are they stepping up and devising better tracking equipment, ways to get oxygen in there faster basically so that there can be quicker rescue response?

FRANKEN: Well, the mining companies say that they've always been concerned about their coal miners, but that has been a historical clash. The unions -- in many cases in the non-union mines, the miners have always felt that the coal operators have not provided the safety in the name of profits. And there are critics politically who say that this Bush administration has sided too often with the coal operators. So what there is going to be now is a push to improve things to try and reach a consensus, and the Bush administration agencies are saying they are, too, are going to look to see if there has to be an upgrade.

NGUYEN: CNN's Bob Franken from Melville, West Virginia, this morning. Thank you, Bob.

HARRIS: Think about it, it's hard to believe but nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina, 3,000 people are still missing. Yesterday federal and state officials held 30 forums across the South to discuss relief and recovery efforts for hurricane evacuees. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco attended one meeting here in Atlanta. CNN's Gary Tuchman talked to one woman at that forum who still doesn't know what happened to her mother, and things got very emotional.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERBERT: I'm very angry, because guess what, everybody in America has got a mama, but where is mine? That's what I want to know today! Where is my mother! I'm angry with the world! They can parade around here and talk about Mardi Gras and what they want to do with New Orleans! Well, what about these 3,000 and some people missing and one of them missing is my mama! I'm sick of these people! I am really sick of these people! You can save whales! You can save all these animals but you couldn't save all these people! And I'm tired. And I want the governor, I want the mayor, and I want the president, I want all three of them to come before her six children and tell us where she is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Governor Blanco called her secretary of health and hospitals and told him to get on the case, but still no answers for Ms. Herbert.

NGUYEN: Waveland, Mississippi, is just one community of so many Gulf towns torn to shreds. Nearly five months after Katrina, some help trickles in, but for many owners of what were once homes, getting their insurance company to cover the loss is proving near impossible.

CNN's Gary Tuchman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A cow bell rings to end the day at the damaged Bay High School on Mississippi's Gulf Coast. And 17-year-old Rebecca McIntosh makes her way back to her neighborhood in the town of Waveland, a neighborhood that looks like it's stuck in a time warp. Four-and-a-half months after Hurricane Katrina destroyed property and lives, Piney Ridge Road (ph) looks almost the same as it did in August when we first met Rebecca.

(on camera): Do you know who used to live in this house that we're standing in?

REBECCA MCINTOSH, KATRINA VICTIM: I think this is the roof to the houses right there. An old friend of mine used to live in.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): It was two days after the hurricane, the first time she saw her house.

(on camera): Is that black thing over there, was that your roof?

MCINTOSH: That was our roof.

TUCHMAN: It blew all the way down there.

(voice-over): Today, this is the view, not much different.

(on camera): When we walk in your house, it looks exactly the same as it did the day after the hurricane.

MCINTOSH: Yes.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Except now, next to the rubble of the home is the small FEMA trailer she is living in with her grandmother Kathy Everard.

KATHY EVERARD, REBECCA'S GRANDMOTHER: Well, I can't go any place else. I have no place else to go. I have no money to go elsewhere.

TUCHMAN: Rebecca's grandmother initially thought she would have money to rebuild here or elsewhere, but she was in for a rude surprise.

EVERARD: I've got excellent insurance and they say, well, we can't help you because you don't have any wind damage.

TUCHMAN: Kathy Everard says the insurance company told her all this damage is from flood water. So, while the government's flood insurance program has paid out money, it only covers a portion of the cost of what was a 3,000 square foot home. The grandmother refuses to have the rubble cleared, hoping to use it as evidence as she fights the insurance company over the phone.

EVERARD: Yes, then that's what hit my house, was a tornado. And I have got trees to prove it.

TUCHMAN: Throughout the Gulf region, many families from all walks of life are having similar battles with their insurance companies. Granddaughter and grandmother do their best to cope in very tight conditions in their trailer. Rebecca, who is a National Honor Society student, says she tries to keep her mind off the troubles.

MCINTOSH: I try not to let anything affect my school because my school is pretty much all I have.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Here it is. What's this?

MCINTOSH: That's actually a Mardi Gras doll that I got when I was like 7.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Back in August, Rebecca told us how her lifelong doll collection had been destroyed. After our story aired, viewers and businesses sent her new dolls.

MCINTOSH: And Mattel sent me these right here.

TUCHMAN: Brightening her outlook, as well as that of her grandmother. But the insurance issue is becoming harder and harder for Kathy Everard to deal with.

EVERARD: I feel so alone and I've never felt so desperate in my entire life.

TUCHMAN (on camera): You may have noticed we didn't identify the insurance company, that's because many insurance companies are in the same dispute. But we did talk with this insurance company and officials there now acknowledge there was wind damage here. They say they will come talk to Kathy Everard and anticipate a payout.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Waveland, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: In stories across America now, a five-alarm blaze at a Manhattan building injured four people, three of whom were firefighters. We still don't know the extent or severity of the injuries. Firefighters were still trying to bring the blaze under control early this morning. Fire officials say the building housed retail shops and galleries in the Soho district.

Police say, have you heard this story? The 37-year-old mother of NBA superstar LeBron James was kicking mad over her arrest for DUI Friday night. Akron, Ohio, police say Gloria James kicked out the back window of their squad car as they took her to jail. LeBron had little to say about the incident. Gloria James is free on a $2,500 bond.

There she is. There she is. This year's Miss America. Oklahoma's 22-year-old Jennifer Berry. Lovely woman. Lovely. Won the recently relocated beauty pageant. It was held in Las Vegas for the first time since exiting Atlantic City, New Jersey. Miss Georgia and Miss Alabama were the respective runners up.

NGUYEN: Is there a reason why you were reading that so slow that we can see more pictures?

HARRIS: Well, I was just giving you a moment. I know you were formulating your thoughts. There was something you wanted to say.

NGUYEN: She's a beautiful lady.

HARRIS: Yes.

NGUYEN: And now a Miss America.

HARRIS: And Miss America.

NGUYEN: In the history books. All right, we are going to talk about religion coming up. They did what their religion forbids, leaving their families behind becoming and becoming part of the modern world. So coming up on our "Faces of Faith," how that decision changed the lives of two Hasidic Jews.

HARRIS: Betty, two big football games today.

NGUYEN: Oh yes, huge games.

HARRIS: Oh, yes, for a trip to the Super Bowl, the biggest game period. We want to say hello to Denver, Colorado, and Seattle, Washington. In Denver, that's INVESCO Field at Mile High, we've got the Denver Broncos taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Seattle, the Seahawks taking on the Carolina Panthers later today. We will have your complete weather forecast in about three minutes. CNN SUNDAY MORNING continues in a moment.

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NGUYEN: Here's a check of our top stories in case you're just joining us this morning. The mining community of Melville, West Virginia, is mourning the loss of two coal miners. The bodies of those coal miners were covered yesterday following a Thursday mine fire. West Virginia's governor plans to propose new mine safety legislation tomorrow.

There's no specific cause of death known just yet for the wayward whale that captured the hearts of Britons and so many across the world. We watched it live here on "CNN SATURDAY." Experts say the whale might not have been able to cope with the stress of all the noise and chaos surrounding rescue efforts. The bottlenose whale would up in the shallow waters of the river Thames right in the heart of London.

And workers at a giant automaker, Ford, to be exact, find out tomorrow if they will keep their jobs. Ford will announce its restructuring plan, 25,000 jobs could be cut and then Ford plants could face closure. Plants in Atlanta, St. Louis, and St. Paul, as well as plant in Mexico and Canada are at highest risk of closing.

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NGUYEN: Tony, imagine living in New York City but being isolated from the world. This close-knit community prides itself on protecting its culture and you're either in it or out. But what happens to those who leave that lifestyle behind? We'll take a closer look at our "Faces of Faith," right after this short break.

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HARRIS: Imagine living in a city of 8 million people, 8 million, but being cut off from almost all of them, not by something like a wall or a fence but by a belief system and a way of life that virtually no one around you shares. So what happens if you break away from that way of life?

CNN faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher took a closer look for "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

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DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN FAITH AND VALUES CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a close-knit community. You're either in it, or you are out. This is the story of those lost in between. Heshy Schnitzler grew up in this kind of community.

HESHY SCHNITZLER, LEFT HASIDIC COMMUNITY: It's like time stood still, like it stopped like 150 years ago. So, there's no TV, no media. I mean...

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GALLAGHER (on camera): Movies? Get to go out?

SCHNITZLER: No movies, of course not, you know? I mean, the community is like a self-contained unit. You're not even aware, growing up, that there is another part of the world. And it's amazing how you do that. I mean, you grow up in New York. You see other people. You never wonder. I mean, just like, you accept it.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): He's talking about the Satmars, the largest of the Hasidic Jewish community. For these 200,000 ultra- Orthodox Jews, strict adherence to ritual and fiery devotion to the tenets of Judaism means the Satmars live among, but cut off from everyone else.

It's a choice they make. For them, isolation equals protection.

RABBI NAFTALI CITRON, CARLEBACH SYNAGOGUE, N.Y.: The Hasidim have that mentality, both because of their physical enemies, the Nazis, the communists, who together killed and jailed 10 million Jews. So, they had to put up the fences. They had to preserve whoever they had.

GALLAGHER: This is where they live, Williamsburg, a section of New York City. It looks like any other neighborhood, but, here, the men wear modest black suits, hats, and long, curled side burns. The children go to school, but they're not taught math and science.

Everything they learn comes from their holy text, the Torah. The men become rabbis or join family businesses, but work is secondary. The daily study of ancient Jewish texts comes first. As for the women, they wear long skirts and long sleeves. They're expected to marry young and raise devout children.

Stephanie Levine wrote about those who leave, the rebels, as she calls them in her book.

STEPHANIE LEVINE, TUFTS UNIVERSITY: There are very, very entrenched roles for men and very, very entrenched roles for women. And if you do not fit in on a basic core level, you are going to have a horrible, horrible time.

GALLAGHER: And that's when they get lost. It happened to Heshy. He was 21 and married with two kids when he started questioning the Satmar way of life.

SCHNITZLER: And I had many questions that people didn't have answers to.

GALLAGHER: Heshy left his wife, his children, and the Satmar community.

(on camera): And then you were depressed?

SCHNITZLER: Very, because I got divorced. All the problems are gone. And I was happy for a day or two. But then I was, like, hit with life. I mean, like, still, I mean, there are no answers. I'm dealing -- you know, the yarmulke is off. All right, I'm eating everything already, no -- non-kosher, un-kosher, you know?

All right, you know, I'm going out. But there is no meaning. It's like emptiness. And, also, at that point, like, I had lost my faith.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): In his divorce agreement, Heshy promised never to contact his kids, who are being raised Hasidic.

(on camera): How long has it been since you have seen your children?

SCHNITZLER: Five, six years.

GALLAGHER: You don't go and see them when you go back?

SCHNITZLER: No, because that was kind of the agreement. You know, like, I'm going to get out. We're not going to confuse them.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): Chana Ravitz also grew up in the Satmar community. She was 18 and married to a man she had met only one time before their wedding. It was an arranged marriage, which is not uncommon.

CHANA RAVITZ, LEFT HASIDIC COMMUNITY: My wedding day was not like who I'm marrying, wow, this is the person I'm marrying, and, you know, looking forward to marrying this person, because I had no idea who he was. GALLAGHER: Feeling unhappy, Chana left her husband and the community, a decision that devastated her family.

RAVITZ: In a way, I'm dead to them. They just keep telling me, I'm going to go to hell, and why keep behaving in this way, not being Satmar, and that I'm worse than a non-Jew.

GALLAGHER: It seems extreme, even harsh. But Satmars believe rejecting their traditions is rejecting the only true form of Judaism.

LEVINE: There's really a notion that the true Jews are only the Hasidim.

GALLAGHER: There are no statistics on how many Jews leave the Hasidic world, but a spokesman for the Satmar community in New York says it's a tiny percentage.

And he stresses that anyone who leaves is welcome to come back. He said, quote: "I would say to them that we are all children of God and everyone makes mistakes, but there is forgiveness, and it is never too late to come back."

Today, Heshy is back in the fold, although he is living a more moderate Orthodox life. He has found his calling helping others like him. He rents this small apartment, a sort of halfway house for Hasidic kids who are still trying to figure out where they belong.

(on camera): And how many kids would you have here in the apartment?

SCHNITZLER: We can fit, like, 15 people into this room.

GALLAGHER: And I don't see anybody here right now.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHNITZLER: Right. Right. Right. They were -- they didn't want to be on TV, so everybody cleared out.

GALLAGHER (voice-over): When the cameras aren't there, this apartment is a home away from home for those who want to contemplate a world beyond the Hasidim, a world they may or may not choose to enter.

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HARRIS: Faith and values correspondent Delia Gallagher, reporting for "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

Well, it was a heart-stopping moment for one die-hard fan, literally, during the Steelers-Colts game, that was last weekend.

NGUYEN: But he lived to talk about it. And he is going to be here to talk about it. Wondering what his first words were to doctors? We're going to tell you next hour when super fan Terry O'Neill joins us live. HARRIS: And are you feeling down this winter? The short days, the nasty weather, gray flannel skies can give anyone the winter blues. But for thousands of Americans, it's a lot more serious and extreme than that. Coming up next on "House Call," Elizabeth Cohen shows us the signs of winter depression.

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