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MOBILE, Alabama - When you see tarballs, you probably don't think they would make a pretty necklace or earrings. But, a Mobile teenager does. Eighteen year old Jessica Boykin got the idea of turning tarballs into jewelry last month, after walking the beaches on Dauphin Island.

She took the tarballs home and with the help of her father, heated them to separate out the sand from the oil. She then used the oil to paint acryllic pieces, and inserted little sea charms like sea turtles, dolphins, and sea shells. She says the jewelry is a way to remember the coastal crisis.

Jessica says she sees beauty, even in tarballs. "God made something ugly for us to figure out how to make something pretty out of them."

Each piece runs around $25. Jessica is using her profits to help pay for college.

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ANNA MARIA ISLAND -- Despite the oil spill being capped, some say they're still fuming over what happened, including a Manatee County restaurant owner who has concocted a little something to ease the pain.

The Beach Bistro sits on Anna Maria Island, and like the water outside of the restaurant, it is untouched by the oil disaster. However, owner Sean Murphy says he thinks about it every day.

"Now that they've apparently plugged the well, everybody's forgetting the extent of the damage that's done," he said.

Upset that not enough is being done to help the oil spill victims, Murphy has come up with a plan of his own -- a cocktail.

"In order to drive everybody's attention to the situation, we at the bar fooled around with a cocktail," he said.

Murphy formed the BP martini, which begins with a calm mix of crystal blue vodka and curacao that represents the Gulf waters.

Then he adds flaming 151-proof rum, which represents the explosion on the water.

After the explosion comes the pollution of dark chocolate, followed by coffee beans to symbolize tar balls.

The drink sells for $10 and all of the proceeds go to the Greater New Orleans Foundation's Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund.

So far, Beach Bistro has sold more than a dozen of the drinks to customers like Lauren Bucci, who say they'll be back for more.

"You think of the BP oil spill and it's a horrible thing, but it's nice they think of a wonderful idea out of such a horrible thing," she said.

To advertise the martini, Murphy created a satirical video highlighting the martini and its effects on the environment.

Murphy says he hopes the martini will remind everyone that BP is still responsible for the spill and the massive damage it has left behind.

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BILOXI, MS (WLOX) - A new boom decontamination station was unveiled in Biloxi Tuesday. A construction company that usually builds courthouses and casinos, invented a way to clean oily boom so it can be stored, recycled or used again.

In just one month, Yates Construction revolutionized the way marine boom is de-contaminated. And in the process, created 60 new jobs.

Ever wonder what happens to all those miles and miles of dirty boom?

Yates Construction company has figured out a way to process used boom at their East Biloxi facility. They created and built a semi-automated system to clean marine boom to be stored, recycled or used again.

Owner of Yates Construction, Bill Yates, said it's a long and very thorough process. He said the booms are first fed through a conveyer belt and sprayed with an organic cleanser. Then they are flipped over on to a second conveyer. The back side is inspected, just in case anything was missed in the primary washer. They are then touched up and inspected again.

Then it's rinsed another time before going through a final drying station. William Yates says BP asked them to find a way to clean and process boom faster and they did.

Bill's son, William Yates, said, "So we took that as a challenge... put all our best heads together and came up with what we thought was a little bit better mouse trap."

BP CEO for Gulf Coast Restoration Bill Utsler said this is another good thing to come from a terrible tragedy.

"In the event that we ever need to use this process again, it's here. And skimming technologies have advanced. The recovery of tar balls before they come to the shoreline, many differing ideas have been developed over the course of this response and most of those ideas have come from local people," Utsler said.

Yates Construction Company has a patent pending for their new boom decontamination invention.

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BILOXI, MS (WLOX) - Vessels of Opportunity are preparing to search the Mississippi Sound for submerged oil.

Boaters and fishermen in the VoO program are instructed on how they'll survey and sample the Mississippi Sound. The team will begin searching for sub-surface oil by mid-week.

"The mission is going to have 48 vessels. Thirty two will be specifically assigned to subsurface oil assessment. The other 16 are going to be fast response boats in which we will still receive additional spot reports from aerial assets and recreational vessels. And we can respond to those reports immediately without interrupting the submerged oil assessment," said Kristen Jaekel, who will head up the Mississippi Sound team for the United States Coast Guard.

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HARRISON COUNTY, MS (WLOX) - The Mississippi Coast tourism industry is still trying to get back to where it once was. Wednesday's announcement that BP will give $3 million to help fund coastal activities will go a long way toward that goal.

Applause echoed around the room as the President of the Harrison County Tourism Commission, Kenneth Montana, announced the grant money.

"Working together we can put the wow, the wow, back into a trip to the fantastic Gulf Coast," Kenneth Montana said.

Back in June, the commission approached BP privately with a plan. That plan would maximize tourism and provide supporting funds for our local events.

"We came up with a vision to create a foundation, a fall promotional campaign. A fall combination of events and festivals and attractions and activities to market an extravaganza that would stretch over two and three months," said Montana.

A $1,175,000 payment will support Harrison County events and activities including Biloxi Seafood Festival, Chefs of the Coast, Cruisin' the Coast, horse shows, Mississippi Hotel & Lodging Association Charter Boat Fishing Tournament, Fall Classic Mississippi Youth Soccer Tournament, Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Rendezvous & Harbor Grand Opening, Magnolia Classic USFA Fast Pitch Softball Tournament, Mississippi Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo and a Familiarization Tour of convention and coliseum facilities by national tourism magazines, agencies and media.

In Hancock County, a $995,000 payment will support events and activities including motor coach promotions, Second Saturday Art Walk, Diamondhead Arts & Crafts Fair, a country concert weekend, a Cruisin' the Coast event in Hancock County, WaveFest and Snowflakes on Mississippi's West Coast.

And in Jackson County, a $580,000 payment will support events and activities including the Ocean Springs Art Walk, Mississippi Gulf Coast Blues & Heritage Festival, Walter Anderson Museum of Art Exhibit Opening, Zonta Festival, Ocean Springs Feast of Flavors, Welcome Center Familiarization Tour, a Cruisin' the Coast event in Jackson County and the Gautier Mullet & Music Festival.

A $250,000 payment will promote golf tourism in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties and provide incentives for golfers who book a 3-day/3-night golf package. MGCGA will invite to participate and work with any lodging property located in the three Mississippi Gulf Coast counties that can manage golf packages.

The funding amounts for each event have been designated by BP. Montana said the money given has to be used on related benefits to the coast by November 7 of this year.

"We can do this. We can attract these extra people to our resort destination," Montana said.

The $3 million will be split between the Harrison, Hancock and Jackson County tourism boards along with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Golf Association. This payment is in addition to the $15 million BP gave the state for tourism promotion in May.

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NAPLES, Fla. - A Naples chef is proving rumors wrong in the wake of that devastating oil spill.

He's cooking with water from the Gulf!

Chef Fabrizio Aielli at Sea Salt tells WINK News his customers and friends still believe oil is on our beaches. He's getting the word out about our clean shores by using Gulf water in his recipes.

Aielli says it's a technique he learned while growing up in Italy.

"Sometimes when we cooked clams...we don't always have water available. So what we was doing is taking water from the sea."

His tradition is now going viral. The Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau is showcasing Aielli's cooking as part of a new web video series. They're hoping the demonstration will help combat the misconception of oil on Collier's coasts.

JoNelle Modys with the CVB says a recent survey from Travelocity prompted them to take further action. The survey showed most Americans believe Southwest Florida and other areas not impacted by the oil spill are covered in it.

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