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CNN Saturday Morning News

Tropical Storm Ernesto May Turn into Hurricane; One Year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina; Justin Pearce Discusses his Documentary; Physical and Mental Scars in Lebanon and Israel

Aired August 26, 2006 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone.
Now in the news, Tropical Storm Ernesto -- we're waiting for the latest information from the National Hurricane Center. That's due any moment now. The storm is expected to become a hurricane by the start of the week.

Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider joins us with more in just a minute.

Any minute now, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco-will be talking about how the repairs to the New Orleans levees have been going. You'll recall water from Hurricane Katrina breached the levees last year and flooded parts of the city. You will hear Blanco's comments as soon as we get them.

President Bush is also talking about Katrina and its aftermath. In his radio address, just an hour ago, Mr. Bush pledged that the government will do its part to rebuild the Gulf Coast. And he praised the generosity and compassion of the American people.

Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu will have the Democratic response this hour and we will bring that to you live.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Iran's nuclear plant now has two units working. Earlier today, President Mahmood Ahmadinejad toured the plant and repeated that it would be used for peaceful purposes. Now, the U.N. has given Iran until Thursday to suspend uranium enrichment or face possible sanctions.

Ambushed in Afghanistan -- two French soldiers were killed, two other French troops wounded yesterday. A roadside bomb exploded. Then the soldiers fought with enemy extremists.

And late news from Baghdad to tell you about. Freedom for a member of the Iraqi parliament. Kidnappers had been holding the Sunni lawmaker for nearly two months. She was traveling with eight bodyguards when gunmen hijacked her convoy. Police never figured out a clear motive for that kidnapping, but she has since been freed today.

Welcome.

Good morning.

It's Saturday, August 26th.

From the CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Betty Nguyen.

HARRIS: And good morning, everyone.

I'm Tony Harris.

Ahead this hour, a busy hour. Brand new information on what could be our first hurricane of the season. And it's not pretty. Bonnie has the info you need to hear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

He's trying to run-to cover, which we are not doing.

Evacuation.

Evacuation? It's like a vacation to have such beautiful weather down here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: That was before. This is after.

Coming up, how a joke turned into a dramatic documentary about the problems and pain post-Katrina.

Which American is getting a rock star greeting in Africa?

And you know those amazing gift bags at the Swag that the stars...

NGUYEN: Oh, yes.

HARRIS: ... will get at tomorrow's Emmys? Now they'll have to pay taxes on them.

NGUYEN: Oh, darned.

ANNOUNCER: CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

NGUYEN: OK, take a look at this.

We have new information on Tropical Storm Ernesto. It could become the first hurricane of the year to threaten the U.S. and it could happen the same week we remember Hurricane Katrina.

Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is tracking it for us -- and, Bonnie, do we have that new update from the National Hurricane Center?

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We sure do, Betty.

Right now, maximum winds with Ernesto are at 50 miles per hour. So still a tropical storm and a very powerful one. The forecast track does call for the storm to strengthen and intensify. Right now, tropical storm force winds, meaning winds that are exceeding 39 miles per hour, extend outward of 115 miles. So that's pretty far and pretty wide.

And you can see by this big area of convection indicated by the bright purple on your screen.

we're looking at some strong thunderstorms, as well.

There's a hurricane watch now in effect for parts of Jamaica and into Haiti, as well, in the Cayman Islands.

So this is a serious situation.

We're expecting this storm to intensify to hurricane strength within the next 48 hours.

And we have a guest on the phone right now from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Michael Brennan, who is a meteorologist there.

Michael, can you talk a little bit about this new advisory?

I want to speak specifically on how the storm has been slowing down gradually.

MIKE BRENNAN, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Yes, you know, Ernesto is being -- undergoing some shear from westerly winds aloft. And so, you know, the center -- the motion of the center has slowed a little bit. And most of the thunderstorm activity is located just over east of the center.

So, you know, the shear is somewhat slowing the rate of intensification for the storm so far.

SCHNEIDER: Mike, we're showing right now what we call our spaghetti map. As you know, the 15 different computer models showing 15 different directions Ernesto can go.

Looking at all these different models and going through the model runs, what is your thinking down there of where Ernesto will go next?

BRENNAN: Well, generally we expect Ernesto to continue moving toward the west-northwest. And to the northwest over the next several days. And that will take Ernesto very close to Jamaica tomorrow and toward the northwestern Caribbean on Monday and Tuesday. And then just into the central Gulf of Mexico-by the middle of the week next week.

SCHNEIDER: And we have that track behind me right now, and we can show you, where this actually -- this data comes from your office down in Miami. Talk about the classification. We're expecting the hurricane -- it actually to become a hurricane as early as possibly even Sunday night into the overnight period, toward Monday?

BRENNAN: Right. Yes, we do forecast Ernesto to become a hurricane by Monday and possibly to continue to strengthen as it moves into the northwest Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, which are both, you know, areas where storms generally intensify because of the very warm water in that region.

SCHNEIDER: Especially north of the Yucatan through the Yucatan Channel, where the water is warm.

What's next for this storm?

Looking at this map, we can see that it becomes a category two by Wednesday. Granted, going out further and further, the likelihood of the forecast kind of widens here with our cone of uncertainty.

But can you talk about what we can expect as we get toward the middle of the week?

BRENNAN: Well, sure. I mean there's always -- there's increasing uncertainty in our tracked forecasts and our errors out at day five, you know, can be several hundred miles. But, you know, generally you can see that there is a large spread in the model guidance that you're looking at. So at this point, you know, we're trying to -- going with the consensus of the models and moving it in that general vicinity.

But everybody in the Gulf Coast should be, you know, keeping an eye on Ernesto as we do move into next week.

SCHNEIDER: And you were talking about the consensus of the models. We actually have that map for you. It's on GR-118. We can show it for you. It shows the different computer models. There it is. And you can see, out of the 15, most of them are taking it north, across Cuba.

Do you think that Cuba is looking at a direct hit?

BRENNAN: You know, Cuba, it, you know, it could go very close, especially to the western tip of Cuba. And, you know, that's something that Cuba and the Cuban officials will be looking out at and they may, you know, decide to issue some watches or warnings later today or tomorrow.

SCHNEIDER: As we're looking at this satellite perspective, once the storm passes through the Yucatan Channel and heads into the Gulf of Mexico, what is the likelihood, do you expect, for it to interact with the loop current?

We saw that happen last year with some very powerful hurricanes that went over that warm, deep water and really ignited in intensity.

BRENNAN: Well, yes, the water in the Gulf of Mexico-is definitely very warm and in addition to being very warm at the surface, it's deep warm water. So as the hurricane or tropical storm would move in that region, you know, it would be able to extract a large amount of energy from that warm water in both the northwestern Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

So that's why we do indicate the potential for -- for Ernesto to possibly be a major hurricane by the middle of next week in the Gulf of Mexico.

SCHNEIDER: That's right, a major category -- possibly even up to a category three as a possibility.

But it is still very far out and there's still a lot of room for error in these forecasts, correct?

BRENNAN: Yes. Definitely. And, you know, and if the shear doesn't relax over Ernesto in the next, you know, day or so, then that could slow the intensification trend. So it all depends on not only the track Ernesto takes, but how it interacts with other features in the atmosphere and how it interacts, say, with land, if it goes over Jamaica or interacts with Cuba.

SCHNEIDER: Right. Absolutely.

Mike Brennan from the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Thank you so much.

We will bring you the next advisory as soon as we get it. That's at 2:00 p.m. We'll have another update for you. But we'll keep you updated all the time here on CNN with the latest on Ernesto -- back to you.

HARRIS: Compassionate, generous -- the spirit of America, that's how President Bush described people following Katrina an hour ago in his radio address.

Elaine Quijano joins us live from Kennebunkport, Maine -- Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Tony.

Well, the president, in his radio address, also said that Katrina revealed that federal, state and local governments were unprepared to respond to the disaster. Now, one year after the federal government was roundly criticized for the slow federal response to Katrina, the president today in his radio address reiterated his pledge from a year ago that the government would learn the lessons of Katrina.

Now, at the same time, the president made clear that state and local governments have to do their part in bringing back their devastated communities.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The federal government will continue to do its part. Yet a reborn Gulf Coast must reflect the needs, the vision and the aspirations of the people of Mississippi and Louisiana. And their state and local officials have a responsibility to help set priorities and make tough decisions so people can plan their futures with confidence.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

QUIJANO: And the president, of course, here in Kennebunkport at the Bush family compound, where he is attending a family wedding this weekend.

But next week, he'll be devoting two days to marking the one year anniversary of Katrina. Monday and Tuesday, he'll be in Mississippi and Louisiana. And his message essentially, Tony, that he has not forgotten about the people of the Gulf Coast Region -- Tony.

HARRIS: CNN's Elaine Quijano for us.

Elaine, thank you.

Well, a woman who knows all about Katrina's devastation gave a Democratic response just a few minutes ago.

Here's what Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu had to say.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: A year ago this Tuesday, Hurricane Katrina rolled across the Gulf Coast, leaving behind heartbreaking destruction to the families and communities in its path, much of it caused by multiple levee breaks and catastrophic flooding.

Then, a month later, a second powerful punch came from Hurricane Rita. And that enlarged the destruction, particularly in my state, where nearly 200,000 homes were destroyed.

This week, I am traveling across Louisiana's coastline on a Hope and Recovery Tour, taking stock of where we are and where we need to go.

A year after the most powerful hurricanes in history hit America's shores, the rebuilding process is only just beginning in many communities. And as long as tens of thousands of families can't return home, the work of recovery remains incomplete. Countless neighborhoods appear as if the hurricanes were just yesterday and they serve as harsh reminders of how our nation was so unprepared.

Unfortunately, our nation, in many ways, remains unprepared for major disasters, whether they be hurricanes, earthquakes or terrorist attacks. Too often, federal agencies are slow to move and encumbered by red tape. FEMA, for example, is but a shell of what it once was six years ago, stripped of authority, denied resources. It is often unresponsive, inept and badly managed.

Even the Corps of Engineers has failed us. Much of the destruction from Katrina was the result of flawed and inadequate levees. Before Katrina and Rita, many of us questioned the White House's decision to cut funding for levees and flood control. We were told the money was needed instead for the president's priorities, which included homeland security.

But what is homeland security without hometown safety?

A new national commitment to preparedness and protection starts with a major reinvestment in our nation's infrastructure -- levees, flood control, navigation, evacuation routes are all essential to our security and our economy.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

NGUYEN: Well, you have counted on us before. You can count on us again. CNN never left the Gulf Coast and this week, we will show you what has happened in the year since Katrina and what has not happened.

CNN will bring you complete coverage on the storm of a lifetime. That begins on Monday.

CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Christopher King in Boulder, Colorado.

Coming up on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, John Mark Karr gets his day in court on Monday.

What will he say and what will happen next?

I'll have the story -- Tony, Betty.

NGUYEN: Plus, it started out as a joke, but it ended up as a historical record.

HARRIS: The story behind the story and while you will want to see the new documentary, "Katrina Diary," an amazing story of it even came to be.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Across America this morning, no strike at Northwest. A judge blocks the airline's flight attendants from staging a work slowdown. Crews planned to call in sick with little or no notice to disrupt flights. Flight attendants are angry over a 21 percent pay cut. Northwest is struggling to get out of bankruptcy.

A college student who arrived in Houston on a flight from Argentina is facing federal charges today. Agents say they found a partial stick of dynamite -- that's right, dynamite -- in his bags. The student says the dynamite is a souvenir he bought when he went mine exploring in South America. The dynamite made it past security at the Buenos Aires Airport.

Lawsuit terminated -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger settles with a chat show host in London. Anna Richardson claims Schwarzenegger groped her during a London interview six years ago. She says Schwarzenegger's staffers smeared her reputation when they disputed the alleged incident. The settlement makes a nasty issue go away before the governor faces voters again in November.

NGUYEN: A Monday hearing is the next step for the man suspected in the murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey.

Our Christopher King is watching developments in the John Karr case.

He joins me from Boulder this morning.

The first thing I want to ask you, what happens on Monday?

KING: Well, Betty, it's been a long and bizarre trip for John Mark Karr. It's gone from Thailand to Los Angeles and back here to Boulder, Colorado. And what's going to happen on Monday is that John Mark Karr will go before a judge right here at the Boulder County Justice Center.

But for now, he's in jail in isolation at the Boulder County Jail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): John Mark Karr remains isolated from other inmates. The Boulder County sheriff says it's for his own safety.

SHERIFF JOSEPH PELLE, BOULDER COUNTY, COLORADO: He'll be allowed to recreate periodically by himself and he will be fed in his cell or in a sub-day room, which is a small isolated area off of the main -- off of the cell.

KING: Karr's attorney met with the murder suspect in jail for several hours Friday afternoon.

SETH TEMIN, BOULDER COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDER: It's a very difficult place to be. It's very challenging. There's a lot of pressures on him.

KING: On the outside, the judge in the case imposed a gag order and Karr's public defender filed several motions Friday, including one to seal handwriting samples taken from Karr by authorities. Karr's recent arrest in Thailand reignited the media frenzy that began with the murder of child pageant star JonBenet Ramsey in 1996. Karr is being held on suspicion of first degree murder, kidnapping and sex assault in connection with the slaying.

Though Karr has not confessed to any crime, he told reporters he was with JonBenet Ramsey when she died. He called her death accidental.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: Yesterday, Karr's attorney filed a number of motions. One included a request for the gag order, as we've mentioned before, and, of course, Judge Roxanne Bailin agreed with that order, saying that essentially having any law enforcement official or having any lawyer speak out about that before the trial could result in an unfair trial. And, of course, Karr's attorney had also placed a request for a DNA sample to be held onto until there is a hearing before any DNA samples can be taken from John Mark Karr -- Betty, Tony.

NGUYEN: DNA will be key.

HARRIS: Um-hmm.

NGUYEN: Christopher King in Boulder.

Thank you, Christopher.

HARRIS: So less than 30 hours before launch and NASA is watching and wondering about the weather.

NGUYEN: The ever important weather. Let me tell you. Well, the Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for lift-off tomorrow and this is an important mission, as the astronauts will ransom construction on the International Space Station.

Now, during a briefing just an hour ago, the shuttle weather officer said there is a 60 percent chance that the mission will be scrubbed.

Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider joins us with a look at Florida's forecast.

I mean looking at Ernesto, you can see why, right?

SCHNEIDER: No.

No, it has nothing to do with Ernesto, actually.

HARRIS: Oh.

NGUYEN: Really?

SCHNEIDER: This is completely different.

And I...

NGUYEN: Not even the outlying pass?

SCHNEIDER: No. Too many miles away.

NGUYEN: Oh, yes?

SCHNEIDER: It's actually very, very similar to what happened just weeks ago when we had the mission scrubbed due to weather. It has to do with the anvil cloud tops from thunderstorms. You're looking at a picture of radar right now, right near Cape Canaveral. And you can see way in the distance there are some thunderstorms there in Orlando. They could be pretty close, within 10 to 20 nautical miles. If you have those cloud tops, then the mission gets scrubbed, at least for weather, because what happens is the cloud coverage really can inhibit visibility and you don't want that anywhere near the launch site or the landing strip. And that's the reason they're saying weather will be a prohibiting factor for tomorrow.

Let's go ahead now and we'll take a look at the forecast.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SCHNEIDER: Well, 60 percent of a no-go doesn't mean 100 percent, so we'll keep watching this and hopefully we can get some better weather for the shuttle launch for Sunday.

In the meantime, we're also tracking Tropical Storm Ernesto. And coming up, we'll have a complete report on that and where we're expecting this tropical storm to go. It looks like right now it is intensifying and strengthening and working its way to the west- northwest at this hour -- Betty, Tony.

HARRIS: Sixty percent does not mean 100 percent.

NGUYEN: Oh, yes. I mean that's true.

SCHNEIDER: The glass is half full.

HARRIS: Which is why we continue to plan. You can watch the launch right here -- if it happens -- fingers crossed -- right here on CNN. We'll have coverage all day with a special report at 4:30 Eastern for the lift-off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): He says he'll go back to school at some point, but not in this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: The young victims of war -- we will tell you about two boys from different sides of the Mideast conflict. Now, they are learning how to cope with what happened to them during the war.

HARRIS: And why a U.S. politician got a rock star welcome in Kenya.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Wow!

The son of a Kenyan goat herder goes home and the crowds love it.

Fans greet Illinois Senator Barack Obama today during a visit to his late father's village. Africa correspondent Jeff Koinange is and the road today with the senator and he joins us from Kenya -- Jeff, I have to ask you, there is some -- there are a couple of rumblings in the press that perhaps we're making too much of this idea of Barack Obama being received as a rock star. So let me ask you to describe, in your own words, what the reception has been like for this man.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you what, Tony, not even Kenyan politicians got the kind of welcome that Barack Obama did today.

I was -- I was shocked. Tens of thousands showed up on a Saturday morning in this town and they were cheering and they were shouting and they were singing in their own languages.

They made Obama T-shirts, Obama caps. They made flags of his face on it and flew them.

It was an incredible, incredible welcome. And I think he was a little overwhelmed at first. I don't think he expected, especially the drive through the city. And then later in the day he went to meet his grandmother -- which was probably the highlight of his trip -- and his family. And they were hugging and they were embracing each other. It was a really heartwarming scene.

And, Tony, he's off on a, you know, back to capital, Nairobi.

But this day definitely belongs to the Obama family.

HARRIS: OK.

So, Jeff, give me some context on this. I mean, why this outpouring?

Why this response to this man?

KOINANGE: The answer is very simple, Tony. The fact that Obama's father -- what you mentioned, the goat herder, this is the son of a goat herder who went away and made good. Now, he's a big time U.S. senator and the locals here -- I mean they can't even put that in perspective. They just think he's bigger than life.

HARRIS: Wow!

KOINANGE: And that's how they were treating him. They've never seen anything like it and they still consider him one of their own.

HARRIS: Hey, this has been a heck of a week for you. I know this is not the kind of event that you normally cover, but you would always cover Barack Obama in Africa.

But how about the other day you spending time with Oprah Winfrey?

KOINANGE: Unbelievable. And, Tony, I did that story and I'm still getting goose bumps just thinking about it. Those young girls' lives who have just been transformed and they're going to go and, in Oprah's words, in a different trajectory. Unbelievable.

When they were jumping up and down on stage ...

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Yes.

KOINANGE: ... they're going to be the first class of her leadership academy. That was magic, Tony.

HARRIS: And one other point about barrack. It may be impossible to understate the importance of him coming, going to Kenya and taking an AIDS test.

KOINANGE: I'll tell you, that was a pretty unbelievable scene because he showed up at this hospital and in the middle of tens of thousands of people, he took an AIDS test. Him and his wife took an AIDS test. And before he took it, he looked at the crowd and he said listen, folks, if someone can come all the way from the United States and take an AIDS test, you, meaning Kenyans and Africans, have no excuse.

Because, as you well know, Africans are so reluctant, so scared, because they don't know the outcome or what will happen. And basically what he was trying to tell them is in this day and age there are ARVs, there are drugs that will help prolong life.

And if, you know, if people do turn up positive, life can go on -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Betty has just said, a couple of minutes ago, before we went on the air, this week, for him, has been all about the Os -- Obama and Oprah.

NGUYEN: Oprah.

HARRIS: Jeff, good to talk to you.

Hope to see you soon.

KOINANGE: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Take care.

NGUYEN: It would be nice to walk in his shoes every now and then, huh?

Jeff Koinange, a great guy.

Well, there is no such thing as a free swag bag. The Emmy presenters are now paying taxes -- yes, they've got to pay a little bit for all those free gifts.

But first...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing can't be that harmful. This truck is doing 60 miles an hour. The hurricane is only doing 14.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: That was said before Katrina hit. How one man's joke turned into a documentary about one of the worst hurricanes in the history of the Gulf Coast.

That story, when we come back.

You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: OK, Gulf Coast residents listen up, the National Hurricane Center says you need to keep watch on Ernesto. Here's why. In the last 30 minutes, we've gotten a better idea of what the tropical storm us doing.

It's moving north/northwest towards Jamaica. It could become a hurricane by tomorrow night and veer toward the Gulf. Meteorologist Bonnie Schneider is tracking the storm at the CNN Weather Center. You've got behind you what we call -- it's not a scientific term -- the spaghetti map. But this is important.

SCHNEIDER: It sure is, because it shows 15 different computer models. And when the National Hurricane Center is putting together their official forecast of where Ernesto will go, this is what they look at and they take a look at how many of the computer models take the storm in a certain direction.

Looking at this map right now, about a third of them are taking it across towards the Yucatan, but the majority taking it further to the north and this is the latest what we call model run, meaning it just came done a little while ago. We get model runs coming in a few times a day and really, that's very important because model runs need to be consistent, showing the way the storm is going to go. So somehow, some way it looks like the storm is moving to the west/northwest and should continue on that path.

Let's go ahead now and we're going to take a look at our satellite perspective because it really shows you the convection that's been building across much of the system. The wind shear has been coming from the southwest and the convection mainly has been heading towards the east. So there are some strong thunderstorms and right now, maximum winds with Ernesto are at 50 miles per hour.

The movement to the west/northwest has slowed down to 14 miles per hour. So that's what's really important to know, Betty and Tony, is that the storm is slowing down gradually, not good news for the track because that means it has more of a chance to intensify and according to this official track, it's likely to become a hurricane as early as Sunday night or Monday morning.

NGUYEN: We'll be watching. Thank you, Bonnie. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN PEARCE, "KATRINA DIARY" FILMMAKER: He's trying to run to cover which we're not doing. Evacuation! Phew. It's like a vacation to have such beautiful weather down here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, joking about the approach of a hurricane. In fact, Hurricane Katrina, long before it turned deadly when the storm was first forecast, a young Biloxi man and his friends decided to test their camera equipment by making a sarcastic documentary about a storm they thought would turn out to be nothing. Then the storm hit and it was no longer a joking matter. The filming continued with a somber tone. Justin Pearce joins us from New Orleans to discuss his documentary, "Katrina Diary."

Justin, good to see you.

PEARCE: Hi, Tony, good to see you.

HARRIS: I got to ask you in the beginning, this started out as a bit of a lark, a bit of a joke. Who were you actually making fun of?

PEARCE: Just making fun of the hurricane coming to destroy the coast. Because, of course, we didn't think it would come and destroy the coast.

HARRIS: Is that because there had been so many kind of false alarms through the years?

PEARCE: Right. Ever since -- the hurricane you always hear about is hurricane Camille and the devastation it caused. That was before my time. So it seemed like something that just wouldn't happen anymore. So we took a nonchalant approach and it ended up to be deadly and disastrous.

HARRIS: Absolutely. So how soon into the shooting before you realized you had a real problem on your hands?

PEARCE: I'd say I woke up the next morning with the weather channel or CNN and everyone going and telling about this category five hurricane. And the last thing I had heard of was category five Camille. I woke up and just for some reason decided I got to go and we packed up our gear and we left. We didn't turn back.

HARRIS: How long did it take to you get out of town? I understand that at that point in time, the roads were a mess.

PEARCE: They were terrible. It took a long time. And I didn't think we were going to go out in time because the seabands (ph) were already pushing the trucks and rocking the truck, but we did make it out.

HARRIS: You were living at the time in an apartment above, was it above your family's art gallery? PEARCE: Yes, I was above my family's art gallery, Mornings (ph) art gallery on the Gulf Coast, historical art gallery.

HARRIS: Absolutely, absolutely. And it was destroyed, wasn't it?

PEARCE: It was completely destroyed. There's nothing left.

HARRIS: So give us a sense of what it's like to be in the middle of Katrina. You've got cameras rolling. Take us back to those anxious days.

PEARCE: It's a lot to ingest when the hurricane is coming. It destroys your home. I evacuate at the last minute and come back to see nothing there, nothing there. But everyone along the coast was so resilient and raking their yards in front of houses they didn't have anymore. It gave us the strength to start relief efforts and then it wasn't until later that I realized I had that tape of the prediction and then decided to go forth and create this film.

HARRIS: Talk coming back. You just mentioned there was nothing there. But instead of sort of wallowing in your own losses at the time, you decided to spearhead an effort to help others.

PEARCE: Right. I just took my strength from the community because everyone was so helpful to each other and we began relief efforts as well as the large-scale relief efforts just trying to do our part. Whatever we could to bring gas and goods to the community, just to help out. Just to do anything.

HARRIS: So Justin, we are so close to the anniversary, what are your thoughts?

PEARCE: It's been a rough year for everyone. But I like to just say that the Gulf Coast and the residents of the Gulf Coast have proven theirself (sic) to be so strong and resilient and I mean this from my heart. For instance, we had like a Katrina screening and the town came together last night in fact and almost celebrated and remembered everyone who lost their lives and it was a real powerful event and it was just great to even be a part of such a strong community.

HARRIS: Justin the best with the documentary, really. And where can folks find it online?

PEARCE: They can find it is at redwirefilms.com. That's my Web site. It's pretty much a Katrina Web site. They can find posters, inspirational Katrina posters. They can sort through photo galleries, look at some clips from my film, redwirefilms.com.

HARRIS: Sounds like you have a lot there on that Web site. All right, Justin Pearce, we appreciate your time. Thank you.

PEARCE: Thank you so much.

NGUYEN: Well the difficulty of returning to everyday life after the war in the Middle East. We will introduce you to one Israeli boy who is afraid to leave his father's side and another boy from Lebanon who gives us a tour of his bombed out home. Their stories when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Turning now to the crisis in the Middle East, here's what we know so far this morning. In the west bank today, Israeli forces surrounded a house in Nablus where they say two fugitives were hiding. When the men didn't come out, bulldozers were called in to strike the building. Heavy fighting broke out and doctors say one Palestinian was killed, 20 others hurt.

And you're looking at the remains of an Israeli air strike in Gaza today. There it is. The Israeli army said the Hamas men lived in this house and it was being used to store weapons. A French ship docked in Beirut today. Fifty troops came ashore and 40 pieces of heavy equipment were unloaded. It is all part of the United Nations peacekeeping efforts.

The fate of two kidnapped journalists is still unknown but there are encouraging signs according to sources in Gaza. Fox reporter Steve Centanni and photographer Olaf were captured 12 days ago. A Palestinian spokesman says there are no direct talks but there is some communication to secure their release.

HARRIS: There's a fine line separating Lebanon and Israel and on both sides of that line, there are hundreds of people with physical and mental scars. We have two reports on victims who are now on the mend. We begin with CNN's Paula Hancocks in northern Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Lidgey family enjoys some quality time together now that calm has returned to northern Israel, but behind the smiles, this family is struggling to cope. 13-year-old Kobe was badly injured while running to an air raid shelter during a Katyusha attack on day one of the war.

He had to have his spleen removed in an emergency operation. A few days later the hospital he was in was hit by another rocket. He was thrown 20 feet across the room and lost consciousness. He left hospital after a few weeks, but his father says he has changed.

He tells us Kobe used to be constantly laughing and talking. Today he sits on the couch and hardly moves, only to follow his dad wherever he goes. He says it's hard to believe this is the same child from two months ago. Kobe's mother shows me his room where he used to spend much of his time. Now he won't stray far from his parents and usually sleeps in their room. His physical wounds are responding to treatment, she says,. Dealing with his psychological trauma is another matter.

Kobe's older brother Mata (ph) is home for the weekend from southern Lebanon where he's nearing the end of his military service. It took a week for the news of his brother's injuries to reach him. He tells me he knows his mother cries. He knows his father is having nightmares. He keeps trying to tell his parents he's OK in the army so they don't worry about him as well.

Mata persuades his brother to leave the house on the promise of buying him a T-shirt. It takes a few hours and two new T-shirts before Kobe is comfortable enough to chat with us. He says he'll go back to school at some point but not in this town. He doesn't want to be in this town. Walking home, he looks like any other boy out shopping with his brother, but he never looks over his left shoulder any more. That's the direction the Katyusha came from.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Safed, northern Israel.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Another victim of war. A young woman weeps at the casket of her grandmother, the destruction and civilian casualties all across south Lebanon stir her anger at Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't see the children and the families. And why? This is my country, you know. If you have a country and you have Israel at the same time, you make what Hezbollah is making.

CLANCY: It's another traffic jam at another bombed bridge on the Litani River. Madelyn (ph) is forced to get out and walk. The rain hardly matters, not to the children of course flashing victory signs from their windows or the man finally driving his family home. A journey through the south takes you past billboards of martyrs. Two villages pounded to rubble from the air, cities that must finish the destruction before struggling to stand once again.

It's the fourth time, says the dress maker in Nabatiyeh, first the Israeli invasion in 1982, twice during the occupation and now this, the worst. His factory opposite the government offices is destroyed. As he throws away his inventory of women's clothes, he says everyone will rebuild and public sentiment, he warns, shifts to Hezbollah. Down the street, a merchant sorts and cleans shoe boxes on the sidewalk in front of his store.

Yellow flags of Hezbollah flutter from the lamp posts. In Qana, a new memorial is being built for civilians, not soldiers, 29 in all, more children than adults. Qana became a symbol, its losses made the world take notice. Now all the world seems to come to stare. Journalists or tourists, it's hard to tell at times, but residents will keep vigil long after everyone else is gone.

High above the graves, an old man looks down on his lifetime come to this. Salim Amur (ph) tells us this was the home he built for his children and grandchildren. Thank God, he says, they fled from before the bombs. Stones he says can be restored but not a life. And what of peace? If there are good intentions from Israel, he says, then there can be peace, but Salim isn't counting on it. Here and across south Lebanon, hope is another casualty of war.

Literally just footsteps from this incredible devastation in Qana, we're reminded after all that all of this area is the holy land. Historians say it's where Christ performed his first miracle turning water into wine. Turning conflict into peace in this area may take another miracle.

Jim Clancy, CNN, Qana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: CNN LIVE SATURDAY is coming up at the top of the hour.

HARRIS: Guess who's here?

NGUYEN: Suzanne Malveaux. Good to see you Suzanne.

HARRIS: In for Fredericka. Good to see you.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: It's great to be here. Now you know, Fred is doing a triathlon.

HARRIS: No, she's not. Really?

NGUYEN: Slackers today. She makes us feel like we don't do nearly enough.

MALVEAUX: We're going to have a great show. You do know Donna Brazile of course, a CNN contributor. She's not ready to talk about politics. She's going back to her hometown of New Orleans, the one- year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. She's going to talk about her own personal experiences and of course she has also been involved with the Bush administration in trying to figure out the next steps.

And then of course another favorite story of mine, I'm going to be talking to someone from "SmartMoney" magazine. I don't know if you guys are ready to go shopping.

NGUYEN: Always.

MALVEAUX: But this guy says 50 percent off anything. He can give you tips whether it's a car or a house.

NGUYEN: Anything?

MALVEAUX: Shopping for shoes. I'm telling you, I'm looking for a car so we're going to sit down with this guy.

NGUYEN: Fifty percent off a house, come on.

MALVEAUX: Off anything, that's what he says. So we will talk to him.

NGUYEN: I'm hooked. I'm watching.

MALVEAUX: That's a good tease. All that's coming up in the next hour.

NGUYEN: That is good stuff. Good to see you.

MALVEAUX: Great to see you.

NGUYEN: All right, we'll see you soon.

HARRIS: On the Emmy swag bag. You know what we're talking about here, all the freebies that the stars get.

NGUYEN: You don't have to get 50 percent offer, that thing comes free.

HARRIS: Here's the thing, this year.

NGUYEN: Except now.

HARRIS: You may have to pay the tax man, those stars for these swag...

NGUYEN: Oh, darn, stars have to pay some money.

HARRIS: We'll explain in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Is a swag bag around here?

NGUYEN: No, not as often as many of us would probably like.

HARRIS: You know those bags that the stars receive when they go for these award ceremonies and sometimes the gifts in these things add up to...

NGUYEN: $50,000 for one of those bags.

HARRIS: Yes. And in many cases, the stars what they do, a lot of them keep the goodies and a lot of them donate.

NGUYEN: A lot of them give them away.

HARRIS: That's it. They give the stuff away to charities.

NGUYEN: Or give them as gifts to their friends and family. So let's talk about those bags. The Emmy awards for the 58th time tomorrow night. That's when we find out who bags a trophy, but before the first statue is handed out, taxman has his hand out, asking what's in that bag? Well the IRS says the bags, they aren't gifts, rather that they are product promotion, which is the truth here.

It plans to tax the value of those goodies. This year's Emmy bag, get this Tony. Remember we were talking about the numbers, 30 grand. So I wonder, I wonder if you're going to have stars go, I don't want the freebies. I just don't want to pay tax on it or if you're going have sponsors and donors of these goodies, say I'll pick up the taxes for you.

HARRIS: I think that's the way it should go.

NGUYEN: That's usually how it works.

HARRIS: It probably will go that way, but it's good to know that a lot of these celebrities actually give the gifts to charities.

NGUYEN: Right.

HARRIS: And the other thing, the Oscars are part of the organization that made this deal happen.

NGUYEN: Oh, yes. It's huge.

HARRIS: And they're not even giving away swag bags next year for the Oscars. So there you go.

NGUYEN: There you go. CNN LIVE SATURDAY is up next. Suzanne Malveaux is in for Fredricka Whitfield.

HARRIS: That's coming up right after this short break. Have a great weekend.

NGUYEN: Have a great day

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