Homeland security shunned by small counties

Some in Iowa haven’t taken part in grant meetings because they feel safe or think urban areas will be favored. Some of Iowa’s smallest counties have shunned efforts to become part of a statewide homeland-security plan, even though the state has tailored its grant plans to benefit them. This past spring – more than two years after the terrorist attacks in Pennsylvania and on the East Coast – three southwestern Iowa counties were disqualified from receiving $227,000 for police and firefighters because they still failed to have a proper emergency-response plan in place. Other rural counties have been no-shows at planning meetings, or have threatened to pull out of talks with their larger counterparts, assuming that their time will be wasted when debating projects and equipment purchases with their urban neighbors. “Basically, my county told me, if we’re not going to get anything out of this, don’t play,” said Hardin County Emergency Management coordinator Doug Riggs. Some counties hardly noticed the grants in the first place. A top official in Adams County, the state’s least populous, said he never was concerned enough about terrorism to pursue the money, especially given his part-time staff and the paperwork demands. Full Story