Beyond Katrina is made possible by a grant from Chevron.

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Chevron and its employees partnering to rebuild Mississippi.

Coming up on this edition of Beyond Katrina, Jeanne Edwards visits some trailer dwellers in Pascagoula and then sits down with Governor Barbour to talk about Mississippi's future.

Walt Grayson checks on the gaming industry on the coast.

Patty Davis found some people who can't wait to get back on solid ground.

Scott Phillips shows us why many Mississippian still have a case of the blues.

A popular television serie takes on a monumental makeover.

Artist Ford takes a look at ho the poultry industry has fared after the storm.

And Leslie Bontemps, Brulée with Patrick Smith in Ocean Springs.

Hello, I'm John Johnson, and thank you for joining us for another edition of Beyond Katrina.

Many of your favorit shows on MPB have pulled talent and resources to bring you this series.

A look at where we go from here in the wake of one of the nation's worst natural disasters.

For many, the next step of the journey is to repair a damaged roof.

More than 60,000 rolls of blue tarp material were used to cover over 48,000 Mississippi homes.

Progress to replace those tarps has been slow.

Scott Phillips of MPB news has the story.

As you wal along the streets of many towns along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, you'll notice an underlying theme the color blue.

That's because many of the tarps that were put in place by FEMA right after the storm are still in place.

Six months after the storm came ashore on August 29th.

Operation Blue Roof is a FEMA program that is assigned to the Corps of Engineers.

It happens on every hurricane, every disaster, typically a hurricane or a tornado or whatever, that FEMA gets a mission assignment.

And it's essentiall a temporary solution for folks until they can get a permanent roof over their head.

As you can see I didn't have very much damage in the fron because I didn't have any trees.

Now, when we get around to the back, he goes, you going to see more damage?

I lost all my back porch all the way across.

I did lose all my shingles, or 75% of them.

Of course, it's a brick home, so I didn't have any any damag other than my roof to my home.

I guess the most important thing to a perso besides your life is your home.

We've put on roughly 50,000 blue roofs.

And that mission went on from literally days after Katrina, and we put our blast blue roof on 18th December.

So we're talking less than four months.

Even though FEMA warned that the Blue Roof program was a short term solution.

Some feel that homeowners are not getting repairs done fast enough.

First of all, there' a lot of blue roofs around here, so we've got a lot of work to do.

Some of them are just waiting to get their settlement from the insurance companies.

Some are still shopping around for more reasonable price.

Some folks didn't have insurance, and certainly got a little pricier for those that got to come pay for tha right out of their own pocket.

And we still have people to just oscillating.

Not sure what they want to do.

So I think it's just a, a matter of, of so many other things are having to take care of in their, family and personal lif that's prolonging that process.

The roofs now would have to be constructed and new roof construction in accordance with whatever the prevailing building codes standard is in place currently in that community.

And to the extent a new roo would be put on in the future, if more stringent standards were adopted, those roofs would then have t to meet those standards as well.

While many of the roof are functional, a small fraction are in disrepair.

These are the two different types of tarps that FEMA has released.

One is reinforced.

It's got a small string lining in it.

The other was found on the ground near someone's home whose tarp is falling apart.

As you can see, it's not much thicker than a heavy duty trash bag.

And now there were some roles that were not just the way they bought from the manufacturer.

98% of the plastic we installed were reinforced blue plastic.

We say it's good for 30 days of the 50,000 blue roofs.

We probably had less than 500 or so reduce when we went out and did it.

It's held up quite well.

It's still, feels a little damp in there when it rains, but it's a heck of a lot better than just rai just pouring right on through.

I think progress is being made every day, but it's not quick enough.

If you're the one person who still has half your roof covered by a blue tarp.

It's just a waiting process.

Well, at least some of.

I could probably done had a roof over from the outside people coming by, but I want to use people in city situation.

Some people are shopping around for the best price.

Others are waiting for financial assistance to come in from the federal government or their insurance company.

But whatever reason people have for holding of on getting their roofs repaired, they're convinced tha everything is going to be okay.

For beyond Katrina.

I'm Scott Phillips.

In a few minutes, a conversation with Governor Haley Barbour.

But first another symbol of housing woes in Mississippi is the travel trailer.

FEMA has placed thousands of those temporary homes and lots all along the coast.

Popular facilities like Buccaneer State Park have become home to many living in these trailers.

Once reserved for recreation.

NPRs Jean Edwards paid a visit to one temporary neighborhood in Pascagoula and found out that most are just trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Buccaneer State Par has always been a premier site, and after Katrina came in, Waveland was one of the hardest hit areas.

And on the coast and Buccaneer is right there in the midst of Waveland.

The destruction and the debri is just phenomenal down there.

Buccaneer really sustained substantial damage.

The two, highest revenue generators at the park were the wave pool and the the slide.

And both of those units sustained heavy damage.

The infrastructure of the wave pool.

We have some concrete damage.

The office complex and the deck, that surrounds the wave pool was completely destroyed.

The superstructure of the slide, the way the water and the surge and the wind came in actually twisted some of the metal complexes.

And we're going to have to have a structural engineer to look at that.

One of the favorite places down there, Buccaneer, was the little kiddy pool.

So it's a nice little pool.

And we have a pipe coming up and there's kind of like a, a mushroom umbrella with the waterfalls.

And the kids just love to go in and cool off after the storm.

The structure itself is still there.

We're going to have to replace the dome on top of the pipe.

Buccanee State Park is one of the larger, parks that we have for for camping residents.

We sustained, a lot of damage back in there.

We've got, the barbecue grills and picnic areas that we're trying to replenish.

We have 209 sites that are in the camping area.

Fortunately, we were allowe to put FEMA trailers in there, so that's that's helping out with the revenue situation.

Buccaneer has become a hub of the Waveland community.

In the camp currently we have some of the municipal, employees, county employees, a lot of volunteers.

And we're prou to be able to provide services not only to the to the local environment, but to the evacuees that lost everything they had.

And we were just privileged to be at a point where we can can offer assistance.

The Buccaneer State Park is full of FEMA trailers, but that's a state park.

Most of the FEMA trailers are on lots like this one.

Thousands and thousands of trailers all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, 34,000 of them at all.

67,000 Mississippians were displaced by the storm.

What must it be like to live in one of these trailers?

The worst thing about living i a trailer is the lack of space.

We have a difficult place.

It's difficult to put a little bit of clothes that you have.

And.

And my son is being so tall, he doesn't fit in the box.

And, the four of u living in a 31ft trailer, that that's that's difficult.

But the good thing is, is we have a dry place, are relatively dr when the inside is not sweating and but it's dry and it's warm and it's cool, and we're thankful.

It has taught us patience.

And we were bot pretty much patient with people.

My husband is a very easygoing person, but it's difficult in the trailer for him.

He's mobility is a little limited in the trailer.

It's not built for people like him.

We're fortunate we have a place to put a FEMA trailer.

Most people don't have that, so they're still in tents and campsites and they're still looking for places to trailer parks.

Put them in trailers and and we're fortunate Janine Baxter and Betty and Ray cook were fortunate enough to come back to something to rebuild.

Randy Williams, like so many others, lost everything.

Williams now lives in a FEMA trailer park in Pascagoula, where only the bare essentials are provided.

Well, in the trailer, I sit here by myself.

I have no way to go.

So I basically sit here and just look out the window and thankful that I got traffic going by and watching them.

Bad part about it i what I've talked to people about is let me not have n transportation to get around and check things when everything's rented up that you could afford.

If you don't know it's there, you have no way to know about it.

So I've got to stay here, you know, until the 18 months or whatever it is, and then try to find someplace else.

It's just just this discouraged.

Frustrated, you know, can't get no help for FEMA and, hadn't been denied three times.

Only, you know, assistanc with all the stuff I lost.

Yeah.

And it's just frustrating.

It's difficult trying to commit to rebuilding.

It's difficult to see your 86 year old neighbors trying to just exist.

That's the worst part, is the neighbors.

If the people in the trailers have a plan that is moving toward fulfillment on their total recovery, it wouldn't make me happy if the trailers were dismantled and the infrastructure taken away.

And the people's lives are not recovered because the trailers are here just as instruments to help the people.

That's the main thing.

And so we know that government cannot provide all answers.

Insuranc can't provide all the answers.

Just man in genera can't provide all the answers.

It'll never be the same.

Never.

Governor, thanks for joining us.

Thank you.

We spent time down on the coast among those people who were livin in those travel travel trailers.

And your testimony to Congres a couple of weeks ago indicated the way you feel about them, that they're a solution, but they certainly are not the answer.

Well drained for a huge storm like this, where we have over 35,000 units of temporary housing, a travel trailer is just not a good solution for that.

What is the answer?

No, I think modular housing, some group type quarters for for certain people.

But the problem with the travel trailers is if you put in 500 a day, which would just be a record pace and the people that put these in put in more than ever been done in this period of time.

You just can't do them fast enough.

Secondly, they're not really not made to live in for a long period of time.

And finally, for us they're not only very expensive, which is the federal government problem, but once you get to the next hurricane season, they are very fragile.

They're dangerous.

They are.

And they'll be if you think it was, if we had another storm like Katrina, these travel trailers, they'd be up to about Oxford.

I mean, it is just not a good solution now.

Modular and things like that.

That could have been done earlier.

They're not a very good solution.

If it takes a mont to put in your tent for having.

For us, it took five months.

So they would have been a much better solution.

And I've told Congress that I think they really need to look hard at that for future storms of this kind of magnitude.

You know what I ran into down there, and we all sa the coverage of people saying, you know, it was just taken too long.

You know, I didn't run into one person in all those parks, places that we visited who was upset about about it.

They were happy to hear.

Well, our people are so spectacular and the people who are there on the ground, they understand what all has been done.

I mean, I think a lot of people don't can't, don't understand the magnitude of this.

You can't capture it on a TV screen or in a newspaper picture.

It is not only the most severe storm we've ever had with a 38ft stor surge there in Hancock County, but it's the largest you still.

We had a stor surge 20ft deep at Pascagoula, and we had, hurrican force winds north of Starkville.

And people don't understand the enormity of this.

So when somebody gets a travel trailer after three months, they understand.

Well, they've been putting in tens of thousands of these, and you can't put them in one week or one month.

The other major issue is communication.

What can we do to solve the communication problem in the immediate aftermath of the storm?

I'm talking about that night.

In the next few days to have i we could have had a survivable communication system that was interoperable so that the Harrison County Sheriff's Department could talk to the Hattiesburg Police Department, could talk to the Highway Patrol.

What a godsend it would have been.

But we don't have one, and we're working on that right now.

If if, heaven forbid, we ever have another storm like this, the immediate nee for a survivable, interoperable communication system so that everybody can talk to each other and so that it survives, it's crucial.

And Congress I do know Congress recognizes that because I've testified befor both the House and the Senate, and they have made plain that they get it, that that needs to be done.

The Commissioner of Public Safety, George Phillips, chairs a group looking that and looking at that Mississippi.

And I hope we'll have a request for proposals.

I just asking people to to bid so to speak, on such a system will be published pretty quickly.

We are recording this conversation on the day that the House report, 520 pages, has been released, and I know that you haven't seen all of it, but but what is interesting to me is that there's so little mention of Mississippi in.

Well, it's kind of like the news media.

No offense.

I know you're an alumnus of the news media.

If you're not, still would not.

But you know, the news media doesn't like to cover airplanes landed safely.

And that's just been part of the problem here.

You rarely see anything about Mississippi because our people are not down there whe and they're not into victimhood.

And so the news media wants to go cover that.

From what I've seen, I haven't seen the report, as you say, but in the news coverage, they hardly ever even mention Mississippi.

And I think the truth is this report is focused on what went wrong, and they just don't have much t complain about in Mississippi, not because of the governor, but because of our people on the ground, the strong, resilient, self-reliant people of Mississippi, of Mississippi who demonstrated the spirit of our state, our first responders who were so courageous and selfless when their own homes had gotten washed away, they were out helping the people.

And that's why I think there's not very much about Mississippi in any of these reports.

What are the possibilities o all risk insurance coming to be?

Well, you know, our state insurance commissioner, George Dale, who a veteran, one of the senior and most respected insurance commissioners in the country, thinks it's time for that to be looked at, that to require the insurance companies to sell insurance that covers all risks earthquakes, hurricanes, flood, whatever.

And, I'm not an insurance expert, but that makes a lot of sense to me.

We have to understand it's got to be priced fairly so that the insurance companies can get a fair premium.

But I think it would be good if people had the opportunity to buy all risk insurance.

If you're closer to the coast, you'd have to pay more for hurricane part.

If you live in California, you'd have to pay more for the earthquake part or Hawaii for the volcano part, or North Mississippi.

That's right.

For the tornado.

You know, we're in tornado alley, right?

And we're also as you as you mentioned, we're in the the, the fault for the, the New Madrid the New Madrid, Missouri fault.

But the point is, people consumers would be better if they could buy one policy that covered everything.

Have to understand.

And again, it's going to be somewhat more expensive.

But to have all the coverage in one policy, I think is a benefit t the consumer and to the state.

But is there any hope fo the people who lost everything because of the floodin and didn't have flood insurance?

Well, there is, the federal government has you can complain about the federal government response, which frankly they had more right than wrong, but they sure made some mistakes.

But they have the federal government very generous.

And Senator Cochran, Senator Lott, our congressional delegation, the leaders of the House and Senate, as well as the president, his administration, have made more resources to us by far than ever before in any disaster.

And it's going to allow u to take people who own their own homes, live outsid the flood zone down the coast, and but had regular insurance but didn't have flood insurance because they were told they didn't need it.

Right.

We're going to be able to, if not make them whole, come pretty darn close up t they could get up to $150,000.

They want to know how soon.

We're waiting right no for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to publish a notice in the Federal Register that tells us we can submit our plan.

Our plan is ready, but we can't submit the plan until they publish the rules.

Is was what it boils down because we have to meet their rules.

We hope it' going to be published this week.

If it is published this week, we will file our plan.

Hopefully they will approve it in a few days.

We will then publish it in the paper.

So everybody star getting their paperwork together because it will take paperwork.

We want to take online applications almost immediatel after the approval of the plan.

And the reason we want to take a few applications online is to make sure there's not some problem in the application that we we overlooked, make sure people can fill our application after it makes sense.

And after probably ten days or two weeks of that we will open places on the coast where you can physically go and make an application.

All the applications at some point will get entered into a computer.

So if you come in make the application in person, somebody there will key it into a computer, because that's the only way we may have to have 75,000 applications.

Gene, if you can imagine that that's more loan applications than any bank on the coast gets that they've ever done.

In just the moments that we have left.

I have to ask you about the go zones, because I was told by a developer yesterday that he believes that there will be ten major construction projects begun in downtown Jackson just in the next year as a result of this goes on to start off by understanding the Gulf Opportunity Zone.

A go zone includes 47 Mississippi counties, runs from Columbus to Vicksbur and everything south and east.

So it's not just the coast.

The tax advantages are very, very, very attractive for construction of new projects, for hiring more people, for buying new equipment.

If if a company is thinking about expanding or building nails the time s you can take advantage of that.

And I don't know about ten major projects in Jackson, it won't surprise me.

But the key thin and I'm glad you mentioned it, this applies to much more than the coast locks like Columbus to Vicksburg, and everything south can get these federal tax advantages, which are very generous.

And before we go, you know, they say it's never true until Marshall Ramsey does a cartoon about it.

This is Marshall Ramsey is so funny.

He skewers me about twice a week.

And what's great is I thin it's funny just getting impaled.

This this, indicates that you have made a decision and that you are not at all intereste in running for the presidency.

You're going to stay here?

Is that if I had ever been seriously considering a run for president that had to end with Katrina, right?

There never been a time in my life where I felt more responsible and felt like more people are relying on me, and they deserve.

They elected me governor, and they deserve for me to focus everything I got on our recovery and rebuilding and renewal from Katrina.

If I was inclined to run for president.

I just don't have time.

I mean, it just it would be impossible.

And so, somebody asked me, mean, I just said publicly that I have no intention to run for president.

I'm not going to run for president.

I just can't do it and do what I have to do after the hurricane.

Governor.

Thanks very much, Jane.

Thank you.

Later in the program, we'll have our update on the gaming industry.

But first, many coast residents climbed aboard a Carnival cruise ship five months ago and now have only a few days to find housing befor their temporary home sails away.

Patty Davis of MPB news discovered that while some families have been gratefu for their floating home, others question whether FEMA money was well spent.

In the days following Hurricane Katrina, there were 15,000 Mississippians in Red cross shelters.

Thousands more took shelter in tents, cars or unsafe structures.

FEMA's direct housing operations chief in Mississippi is Sid Melton.

He says it was September 9th when FEMA began setting up travel trailers at existing commercial sites to house those left homeless by the storm.

Then a cruise ship arrived.

Well, that option again allowed, people that we didn't have enough hotels, didn't have enough spaces to put people in shelters that were already, breaking at the seams.

This just another mechanism that allowed us to get, the people that had gone through this traumatic experience of Hurricane Katrina into something that allowed them to be unde what we call emergency housing, a $236 million agreement for three ships from Carnival Cruise Lines became one of the most controversial contracts of the Hurricane Katrina relief operation at capacity for six months, the price per evacuee would totaled $1,275 a week.

That's more than twice the cost per perso for a seven day Caribbean cruise on October 29th, Carnival' holiday cruise ship left mobile and docked at the Port of Pascagoula, serving as a holiday home fo hundreds of displaced families.

Welcome to our house.

While her husband teaches school in Gulfport, Tina Sample stays home with their two grandchildren.

Home for the pas five months has been the cruise ship holiday.

She says life on board was not quite what they expected.

We thought the pools would be open and with the jacuzzis, you know, all the things you get on a cruise ship.

But, some of those things were on open, but they do have a gym and a sauna, and we have someone to clean our cabin every day.

Our stew, it's really great.

Sometimes even takes ou laundry out and does it for us.

And we have, our food prepared three times a day.

And pretty much any time of day we can go get pizza or take the girls to get cereal if they want.

It's been pretty nice.

The samples hadn't had much luck finding a house or apartment to rent.

When suddenly their luck changed.

I just picked the keys up yesterday.

We're very fortunate.

I went around to all the apartments, and 2 or 3 times a week.

They knew who I was when I walked in the door, they would say, I don't have nothing for this particular day.

I walked in and the man had just turned his keys in.

He's moving so I got into his apartment.

At one time there were 170 people sheltered on the holiday.

By early this month, it was down to about 100 families.

And the last day the ship will serve as a shelter is February 28th.

According to Sid Milton, the next step for FEMA is to replace the trave trailers with new mobile homes and continue rentals assistanc for those that have found homes or apartments.

But he admits it'll be a long time before new construction can replace what's been lost to Katrina.

For me news, I'm Patty Davis.

Just reminder that you can check out links to much of the informatio featured on this show, as well as video clips and blogs o our website at MPB online.org.

We also invite you to visi our website to be a contributor by submitting comments, story ideas, and photos.

A move that bus is a familiar phrase to fans of the popular ABC serie Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Steve and Biloxi follow the progress as the series, and volunteers labored day and night to create a memorial to honor the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

MPB Radio's Kevin Ferrell helps tell the story.

Residents stood in line to share stories and storm salvaged objects.

One woman brought photos, another clutched a broken piece of China.

You know, it was my all.

Really?

Wood from Tullis Manor floated into Anthony Trevor's Crawford Street yard.

He brought that along with two anniversary marks, bottles.

And I had to dig them out of my house, which I stayed at during the storm.

My brother called me up this morning and told me they were doing this.

I figured, you know, it's part is trying to get a little piece of history of Biloxi Steel back in here.

So that's the reason why I had a case of each one of them.

Ed Gemmell brought something personal and patriotic.

He salvaged a flag that covered his father's casket in 1977.

It was a World War Two veteran Army Air Corps stationed at Keesler.

Married in Biloxi.

It's got some wear and tear on it, because I left it up there to show my patriotism for for the city and for the country.

And so the wind' blowing around.

It's got some.

It's got some tears on it, tears on the flag and tears in the eyes of many who shared their stories.

The memorial is serving its purpose.

People are already payin remembrance and mourning here.

So that's one of memorials for us.

So it's already started.

Jennifer Casper dropped off the mud covere remains of a Beach Boys record.

Among the songs Catch a Wave.

The Amr paramedic sees a song of hope in the endless Summer album.

An amazing thing to see everyone pull together like they did.

And I'm really proud.

And I think that I wanted to bring that down here to signify that we have been.

Let's hope here.

Objects are part of the memorials memory case, signifying memories of a storm that impacted so many in South Mississippi.

When it was al done, an estimated crowd of more than 1000 came to honor those who couldn't be there.

I know right off han about five people on my street.

They didn't make it, so this is a good way to remember them.

The memorial is 12ft high, the same height of the tidal surge that came through the town green on August 29th.

It also includes a memory case full of mementos donated by coast residents.

I think it's a great thing that they're doing this little footprint in history to, you know, come and say, hey, we're going to remember the people we lost and prepare to not ever lose that many more again.

Since the show came through here it has been extreme makeovers.

Preston Sharp, who has talked to coast folks about the mementos they have donated.

It was clear by the emotion in his voice he understands the heartache we all feel here.

And it's because it was built with love by all of you that this means so much to us, and we're honored by your presence.

As part of the ceremony, sharp read the names of those who died in the storm.

Names that will be etched into the monument so that generations still to come will understand what happened here on August 29th.

Scottie.

Michael.

Linda Moore, Victoria Moore.

As the names were read, many of those gathered at the town green were thinking of loved ones gone now.

Coast resident Doug de Silva certainly was.

Never would I ever thin that I would watch my daughter drown in front of me and not be able to do it.

But de Silva lost four members of his family that day at their home in Gulf Hills.

The memorial is there for them and all the others.

There were a lot of tears shed at the town green that night, but also it was a night about renewal and the hope for a better tomorrow.

It's a good night.

It's a night of knowing that we're going to grow back and we're never quit.

Because that that's the coast.

Special Thursday night episodes of Extreme Makeover Home Edition from the Gulf Coast will begin airing in March on ABC.

Still to come on beyond Katrina, a young author publishes her first work, inspired by some former Gulfport residents felt a rushing and doctor dirt show us some ways to get washed out.

Landscapin looking green again in a hurry.

And many people are celebrating a holiday traditio in spite of Hurricane Katrina.

Business is booming on the coast for casinos, that is.

Crowds have been flockin to the three gaming resorts open since December.

They are drawing record crowds and better than expected profits.

Mississippi Roads host Walt Grayson shows us how the gaming industry has weathered the storm.

Reels were spinning.

Cards were turning and dice were flying.

As the Mississippi Gulf Coast reopened their gaming house to throngs of anxious customers.

And on Decembe 22nd, VIP was the place to be.

What better way to rebuild a community than to employ people and and all those people that were here working saw hope and saw a vision and saw, you know, a light at the end of the tunnel.

And, getting up and running is the best way to rebuild the econom and to get the economic engine.

Casino gaming, kick started here in Biloxi.

Being on the back, they helped shield the IP from major damage during Hurricane Katrina.

But they did take the opportunity to upgrade their hotel rooms, opened new and improved restaurants like 32, and give the whole property a complete makeover.

We've added slot machines, we've added table games, we've added a poker room, we've added this third level, which we're standing on now which is also a nonsmoking area.

So we've done quite a bit to reposition the property.

The Isle of Capri was the first casino to reopen along the beach, an it was also the first facility to take advantage of the new law allowing gaming on shore.

They converted their convention area and the hotel to house 930.

Slot machines.

27 table games.

And a brand new poker room.

I'm having a great time.

Think you know wha the smallest point resident was?

A bikini.

Roger.

Slot machine came in.

Our old friends were way behind.

This casino visit was her first chance to really unwind since Katrina tore apart her life.

I had to get some of that devastation, and.

Oh, we've been through, you know?

Let's go.

I had to let it go.

And then this is what it would kind of look like.

That's what they did.

Besides gaming, The Isle no offers its guest a brand new spa and salon where they can wash away the daily grind.

But putting residents of the coast back to work is a high priority for this property.

We have built our, employment staff count up to almost 1200 as we continue to work hard to, you know, provide great guest service.

And it's and we're really, we're adding team members constantly each week.

Thank you very much.

Hopefull we are providing the leadership and some a little spark of, of energy to get everything rolling and rebuilt up the street at the Palace Casino and Resort.

They're also operating the lan based casino inside their four Diamond Hotel and is running at 98% occupancy.

I get smartened up by Katrina.

I don't think I'll ever put anything back in the water again.

Our plans right now is, to do a small expansion to the existing facility just to give ourselves a little bit more elbow room and at the same time, begin our master plan to build out on land.

You know, the legislation that passed during the special session really gave everybod an opportunity to take it from from what it was to something it can be in the future.

The palace now offers 830 brand new slot machines and 14 table games inside th first two floors of the hotel.

Fortunately, the storm spared our fine gourmet restaurant, minions.

Which all we had to do wa replace the carpeting in there.

And it's back in service as good it's ever been.

The buffet elements we simpl reconstructed in the ballroom.

So it's a little bit smaller by about 100 seats, but it's still there, and it's one of the best in town.

It's not all flashy neon and fun and games.

A lot of casinos and their employees here on the coast over to the rivers they have crews working around the clock to get this property ready to open.

On the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

And over a the treasure Bay, they're busy working to get a casino open inside the hotel.

By mid-summer, Harrah's, which owns the two grand hotels, plans to sell the Gulfport property to the Copa Casino, and they hope to buil a mega resort on their property in Biloxi that could have two casinos.

Hurricane Katrina dealt Thomas Finley a blow when it flooded his home and destroyed his place of employment, but it seems that his luck is beginning to turn once the hurricane hit in.

Like I was in a situation where I didn't know what I was going to d because, you know, I sat down.

So once I found a job then you know that he was here.

And, you know, it's nice working here.

You know, they got nice people working.

It's a nice facility for a long time.

Patron Maria Saludo It's been worth the wait for the casinos to open, but she does have one request for them.

But it's been good.

It's been good.

I just want a machine to be a little looser.

Far beyond Katrina.

I'm Walt Grayson.

We've included a link to Mississippi Coast casinos, as well as information on other stories featured in this program on our website at MPB online.org.

Well, habitat for humanit is getting some help from Nissan to rebuild the Mississippi Gul Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

MPB news reporter Scott Phillips has the story.

The Nissan plant in canton has donated 50 Titan pickups loaded down with building supplies to help habitat for humanity habitat.

Plans to deploy the vehicles to hurricane devastated areas in Mississippi and three other Gulf Coast states.

Habitat Vice President Chris Clark says the donation will go far to help hi organization achieve its goals.

Oh, that's really exciting.

Nissan is making a tremendous gift to our recovery efforts.

In the hurricane affected areas of the Gulf Coast.

These 50 trucks were manufactured by Nissan and, and are being given as a gift.

We're going to be sharing them with our habitat affiliates in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and parts of Texas to start the rebuilding effort.

And it's so vital to get people back on their feet.

Nissa senior Vice President Dave Boyer says it's the least tha the canton plant can do to help.

Very near, and it's definitely our responsibilit to be good corporate citizens.

This, devastation from Katrina and the state of Mississippi.

We had a lot of employees whose families were involved in it.

And, we just want to suppor the state any way that we can.

Habitat homes are already under construction in hurricane devastated areas.

The trucks donated will help replace habitat vehicles lost during the storm.

For NPR news, I'm Scott Phillips.

Remember the Gulfport Dolphins that were left homeless after the hurricane?

Well they captured the heart of one of Mississippi's youngest writers.

We'll introduce her later in the show.

Well, poultry farmin is big business in Mississippi.

But what happens when a hurricane wipes out thousands of chickens?

Farm weeks.

Artist Ford tells us how poultry farmers are scrambling to get their coops filled again.

Well, about, I guess about ten, ten, 30 of them said Monday morning we lost power and it just went down here for the next 12 hours.

Like I said, you sa the pictures on a chicken house.

Of the two of them up at the top of our house, our equipment shed.

And, it changed our life forever.

Donal and Tammy Sellers share a unique bond with the chickens on their farm.

They're all Hurricane Katrina survivors.

The hurricane peeled the tin off the roofs of the chicken houses as well as the sellers home.

The sellers run what's called a hen operation under contract to Wayne Farms.

The hands of roosters produce fertilized eggs from which broiler chickens are grown.

Sellers was concerned the shock of the storm, the disruption of the birds normal routine, and the roof construction ove their heads would cause them to lay less eggs.

But it didn't.

When Hurricane Katrina survivors share their photos and their stories with you, it's an attempt to give you a idea of what the storm was like.

But no photo can convey the scope of the damage or the mental stress of wondering if your home or livelihood will be destroyed.

The sellers, however, have kept a good perspective on their losses.

What you really didn't know.

You kno just when it was going to stop, you just kept getting pounded and pounded and you thinking, you know everything will work for hours.

Go on down the drain right here.

But you know then you look at your neighbor and you think, well, I'm really blessed that I didn't get any more.

That whole hurricane and its and its push up through the state and its winds just charted winds and everything just went right through the heart of the industry.

There are 47 counties with more than 1900 poultry farms in Mississippi.

27 counties, however, have ten or more farms each.

These, like riding Katrina's path along with the infrastructur needed to maintain the industry, such as feed mills, hatcheries and processing plants.

MPX says 20 chicken houses were destroyed.

Another 353 were damaged to the point.

Repairs could take up to a year and a half, and all 75% of the state's nearly 7000 chicken houses suffered some sort of damage.

The industry, however, is recovering much quicker than most could have ever believed.

Some houses do remain out of service as growers dea with their insurance companies or older growers ponder whether to take this opportunity to retire.

I just didn't think we could get it done back this quick.

But, you know, the contractors, the contract producers, Sanderson, they've all put forth an excellent effort.

And, in getting everything back going and back in production.

I just wanted to cry.

Honestly, I just wanted to cry.

And of course, the all the tan was off of this house.

All the curtains were shredded on both houses.

And we had six, eight week old chickens in those houses.

So there was nothing else we could do.

I mean, you know, they had to be fed and watered no matter what.

Stella McDonnell has grown pullet, females and roosters for 32 years for Sanderson Farms of Laurel.

She and her husband, Larry, managed to get their houses repaired in a month's time.

Insurance covered their $46,000 loss.

The Mississippi Poultry Association estimates total bird losses at 6 million due to Katrina, much less than initially expected.

That equals 8% of the 828 million broiler chickens Mississippi farmers grew in 2004.

Mississippi is the fifth largest broiler meat producer, growing 10% of the nation's total poultry is Mississippi's larges agricultural commodity by far, but the production value of around $2 billion a year.

That figure doesn't include the value added by the infrastructure and job needed to support the industry.

The first thing you noticed the roof line was just collapsed like a V down three quarters of the house, all the way down to the fans only, and the inside walls or side walls had caved in on the sides, and the front of the house was leaning in.

A lot of chickens had either got blown out or were climbing over the top and jumping off.

Jason Pickering is standing beside his new number three broiler house.

It's believed a tornado spawned by Katrina hit it and its three other chicken houses.

A construction company repai the damaged houses in two weeks and rebuilt the destroyed 1 in 3 and a half months.

It cost Pickering's insurance company more than $350,000.

Pickering remains optimistic, though.

He's added two new houses and believes Katrina has made the industry stronger, not weaker.

Looking back, Sanderso really took good care of us, and and, the the government aid and everything really helped out a lot.

So I feel really positive about the future.

Even if something like this does happen again, that, everything will b in place, that that will make it and be better off in the long run, I believe.

From Jones County, Mississippi.

I'm Artis Ford reporting.

A young author from peta has written and published a book on the dolphin from the Marine Life Ocean area in Gulfport, who were swept out to sea when the storm hit.

TV's Dave Elliott has the story of Mackenna Andrews, who couldn't get those dolphins out of her mind.

Nine year old Makenna Andrews of Petal watches a graceful jaguar at the Hattiesburg Zoo.

It's just pretty and I like wild animals.

You won't find any dolphins here at the Hattiesburg Zoo.

We used to have such a wonderful collection of dolphin down to marine life in Gulfport.

Of course, Hurricane Katrina took care of them.

Like all of us, Mackenn Andrews was touched by the story of the marine life.

Dolphins.

August 29th, 2005 Hurricane Katrina destroys marine life.

The ocean area dolphins head to open sea.

As the night went on the wind began to howling.

Gust.

It sounded kind of spooky.

McKenna has written and published a book based on the story of the Dolphins.

It's titled Riding the Storm Out.

It grew darker and darker, and the wind and rain blew harder and harder.

The Andrews family used a company that provides, for a fee, photos and digital art.

The dolphin images accompany McKinney's story.

This nine yea old learned a lot about dolphins during pre-Katrina trips to marine life.

I got to study the animal when I was there at Marine Life.

McKenna is involved in a Young authors program through William Carey College.

Her dad, Michael, believes in giving his daughter opportunities.

We're very proud.

And, you know, we just want to make sure we give her the tool to excel in whatever she does.

Today, Marine Life' dolphins are on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, living at a resort called Atlantis.

McKenna thinks that's a happy ending.

Atlantis is a mystical and unique place.

The name it latest brings with it an entire history of its own.

It will be a great home for these wonderful Katrina dolphins.

On page 13, I'm Dave Elliot.

The week's news.

In this installment of The Gestalt Gardener, Felder, Rushing and Doctor Dirt take us to the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center in Biloxi, where they teach us about how to select some fast growing trees and shrubs, tell us how to plant them, and offer some sharp tips on pruning.

We're here in Mississippi City.

That's what it was called a long time ago.

That's right.

And this used to be the elementary school here in Mississippi City.

And that was Lynn Meadows discovery Children's Garden.

We're right here on the Gulf Coast.

And this school called the brunt of Katrina.

And what we're doing, what dirt and I are doing, is going to plant some stuff, because that's what's o everybody's minds in the dirt.

What kind of tree is this you say now?

This is a cherry laurel.

I stole it out of my backyard.

And look what I've done here.

I've taken this hole an I've dug in between these roots.

Because a lot of people think you just got to dig a big Ole hole.

And the fact is, these plants don't need a deep filter.

You know what?

I've noticed?

That the, shallow roots on all of the trees that are chipped over from a storm.

And I see that we did plant this very deep.

If you want something to grow fast, you got to help it have fast side roots.

So the white hole i more important than a deep hole.

Okay, dirt, get on the holes.

Not too deep, bu I'm trying to make it wide here.

The quicker we can help these plants get side roots, the quick is going to grow.

And we play at the same depth.

And, you know, all we're trying to do.

And by the way, you got a small tree to a smal tree will outgrow a bigger tree every time.

And notice we're not adding anything back to the dirt because they to get used to this stuff anyway.

It's not the bes but the plants get used to it.

And by the way, a lot of people are really interested in some fast growing trees because the Gulf Coas all the way up to Hattiesburg, Laurel, every place really needs fast stuff.

And we've got a list of goo trees and fast growing shrubs, and they can find it on the MPB website.

Yeah.

And so what we're trying to do is come up with some plants.

Some of the cherry laurel is evergreen, so it'll look just so good all the time.

And, if another storm comes and blows the leaves off this one, I'll put leaves back Did you say when another storm.

No, no.

If once we got it planted.

You see that monkey grass over there?

How bad it looks?

It looks really bad from the tree and everything.

That's right.

So we brought in.

Now what we're doing is we're putting this around the tree.

Not just to look good, but to keep lawnmowers off the trunk, because that'll kill it real quick.

Eating grass and potential.

That's right.

And then I got some live oak leaf from here.

You got some, picked up some.

And this makes it look nice.

And there's these leaves decompose.

They'll feed the soil.

Yeah.

The dirt.

I mean, sandy dirt.

That's right.

What about pruning?

Do we take anything off of this?

Yeah, yeah.

Here's what you can do.

Some of these lower branches, if you'll go ahea and just take some of this off.

Try not to leave a stub.

Say I'm doing this not leaving a stub so it heals.

Yeah.

That's right.

And that this thing will grow really, really quick.

And if people want a good list of these plants, they can call us on the radio MPB or check on the website.

We've got a list of really, really good ones from Beyond Katrina.

I'm Felder rushing and I'm doctor doing.

And again, we invite you to check out our website at MPB online.org for the list of fast growing trees and shrubs, as well as other links an information from this program.

There were reports tha coast residents were reluctant to celebrate Mardi Gras this year, that they were convince that the year of the hurricane was not the time to hold a carnival.

But Patrick Smith of Mosby's Mississippi Outdoors, attended the first of the Mississippi Mardi Gras parade in Ocean Springs and didn't find a single party pooper in the bunch.

With so much of South Mississippi devastated by Hurricane Katrina, one might ask the question Should Mississippi celebrat the carnival season this year?

Katrina didn't stop us.

As you say, we're going to have a record crowd.

We're going to have a great parade.

We just go on.

Everyone' so ready to get some party going and there's any time we lik King Cake and everybody voted.

Yeah, that they thought it'd be a good idea.

And so everyone we talked to thought so.

But there were obstacles.

Doug is a float builder for the Gulf Coas Carnival Association in Biloxi.

You know, we have 21 floats.

We do three, three, maybe four years at the most.

This year we've had to do seven from the ground up and then patch all the rest, which is a lot more work than we normally do.

So we've been working on steady.

We took off for Thanksgiving, took off for Christmas, and other than that, we'v been working seven days a week.

Whether good luck or good fortune.

Gulf Coast Carnival Association's floats are up and ready to roll come Fat Tuesday, and although we won't b attending Biloxi Parade on Mardi Gras Day, we will celebrate Carnival by immersing ourselves into the first parade of the post-Katrina Mardi Gras season.

We're going to the 30th annual Ocean Springs Elks Mardi Gras Parade.

But first, in keeping with tradition and custom.

We wanted to start the day ou right with King Cake from Paul's Pastr Shop in Picayune, Mississippi.

We'v owned past pastry for 36 years.

This year, and about 32 years ago, we started putting different flavors and we were the first ones to put cream cheese and fruit in the King cakes just to try something different when it really works.

Originally from California, just want to try something different.

So we didn't know any better.

So lucky for us and business has changed since Katrina.

Our customer base has grown because of so many more people in town, and we're really just trying to keep up with the demand right now.

And it's been hard during Mardi Gras to sell so many King cakes.

We'd like to present this King cake to the, 2006 King and Queen of the Ocean Springs parade.

This is from Paul's Pastry Shop, and we hope you all enjoy it.

With cake in one hand.

We needed something for the other.

We found the perfect pair of beads.

Rebecca musgrove of Mardi Gras Supplies in Gulfport told us about her unlikely muse, Hurricane Katrina.

Things were everywhere.

And then you look some more, and then it's just like, oh my gosh, what just happened?

And, then a couple days later, you know, after you get over just a couple hours, I can't believe all this happened.

Then, you know, business, you kind of get the business running.

The watching the storm come in.

They show you the radar with the the red areas and the yellows and the greens of the heaviest parts.

And I thought that'd be really cool to put on a necklace.

You mean, I kno you're going to a parade today, and I'd like you to present these to the King and Queen.

Happy Mardi Gras.

Before the parade began, we asked Bob Delaney, Elks parade captain, about celebrating carnival post-Katrina.

This is rebuilding.

That's what we're doing.

We're rebuilding.

We're going forward.

I've also got calls from peopl who said our floats destroyed.

We'll be back next year.

We just wanted to apologize.

We couldn't be in the parad this year, but we will be back.

So next year it's even got me bigger.

It's a beautiful day.

Life is good.

All right.

The floats made it through the storm.

We've got the cake and we've got balloons.

Now let's get them to the king and Queen.

Happy Mardi Gras!

On behalf of Mississippi Publi Broadcasting and Beyond Katrina series, we'd like to present this king cake and these commemorative Hurricane Katrina beads to the king and queen of the first post Mardi Gras parade.

Happy Mardi Gras.

Thank you very much, sir.

I like.

Got it.

In the nose.

Thank you so much.

You're beautiful.

What would you like to say?

For good people in Mississippi?

Angry Mississippi, Mississippi.

I'm Stevie Wonder for sure.

It's the train, Elvis.

Enjoy the show and get better fare better, grade.

Much better.

I hope you're.

Having money, mommy.

Well, there you have it, folks.

The first post-Katrina Mardi Gras parade for Beyond Katrina.

I'm Patrick Smith.

Happy Mardi Gras.

Thank you for being with us for Beyond Katrina.

On the next episode, we'll be focusing on environmental issue in the hurricane ravaged areas, and we'll look at how the spirit of volunteer ism is alive and well in Mississippi.

And what about all the debris still covering the state?

That's on the next edition of Beyond Katrina.

Once again, be sure to check ou our website at MPB online.org.

And for those of you watching Beyond Katrina on a station other than MPB, we'd like to thank the cable outlets, public and commercial stations that agreed to make this program available to you.

We leave you tonight with incredible photos sent to us by Ocean Springs resident Lonnie Root for MPB and all our contributing producers.

I'm John Johnson.

Thank you for joining us.

And.

For.

Always.

Beyond Katrina is made possible by a grant from Chevron.

Chevron is proud to be the sole underwriter of this ongoing series about the determination of our friends and neighbors.

Chevron and its employees partnering to rebuild Mississippi.