Above:A 360-degree photo shows a rusted boat and other wreckage at Bayou Caddy, a port west of Waveland. (John Brecher / MSNBC.com)
About this project
In the coming months, MSNBC.com will focus its coverage of the Hurricane Katrina recovery on two cities on the hard-hit Mississippi coast.
Though Bay St. Louis and Waveland are far from the media spotlight on New Orleans, the intertwined fates of the people, businesses and institutions in these towns tell the story of an entire region's struggle to recover from the most destructive storm in U.S. history.
It is a time of transition for Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Hancock County, and for Rising from Ruin as well.
A year after Hurricane Katrina pulverized this formerly idyllic corner of Mississippi, the cleanup of debris is finally slowing and the towns and county are moving full throttle into the rebuilding phase.
WAVELAND, Miss. -- Justice is a very personal experience in Hancock County these days, with criminal defendants sitting elbow to elbow with prosecutors and close enough to the jury to hear each gasp or whisper of disbelief.
“It’s certainly something they don’t prepare you for in law school,” Assistant District Attorney John Gargiulo says of the cramped conditions in what one court clerk described as the “horrible, makeshift” courtroom where civil and serious criminal cases are being heard.
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