Posted on 06/19/2006 5:42:04 PM PDT by SJackson
Some examples of what federal homeland security grants purchased in Wisconsin during the past three years:
-Sturgeon Bay Fire Department: $109.12 for four behind-the-neck earmuffs and $23.79 for ear plugs for a new rescue team trained in responding to building collapses, fire Chief Tim Herlache said. The earmuffs provide hearing protection for rescuers wearing hardhats when they are using loud equipment, such as jackhammers. The earmuffs were part of a grant equipping a new $210,000 rescue truck also purchased with the homeland security money.
The team also got money for a small carpentry shop - including $3.90 for 10 carpenter pencils and $350 for an air nailer that runs off a fuel cell and battery - that would be utilized to build the wooden shoring to make a rescue in a collapsed building, Herlache said.
-Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: $108,675 for 45 pairs of night-vision goggles. "In areas where there is port security, they are assigned to a warden who has a boat," said Dave Woodbury, the agency's emergency management officer. "It gives you capabilities involved in security surveillance."
-Manitowoc County: $14,943 for traffic and crowd control devices, including reflective cones and portable barriers, and a trailer to haul them in. The county also got $25,000 to rig its radio towers with alarms that would alert to any tampering.
-Douglas County Sheriff's Department: $13,400 for an 8-foot by 20-foot tandem axle trailer to haul tactical response equipment for a regional team and double as a shelter with electricity, heating and air conditioning for personnel.
Rock County: $11,423 for a trailer to haul emergency signs, shelving, sign stands and traffic cones. The project included a notebook computer with software that uses technology to tell responders how best to find alternative routes to move traffic more efficiently.
-Waupaca County: $780 for four handheld computer organizers, which hold the county's emergency operations plans.
-Green Bay Police Department: About $60,000 to buy 16 sets of scuba equipment and dry suits for a new northeast regional dive team that also includes members from sheriff departments in Brown, Marinette and Door counties. The project includes a new $200,000 boat, also financed by Homeland Security.
-Madison Police Department: $3,015 for 67 equipment bags for a special events team to carry helmets, gloves, eyewear, gas masks and other personal protective clothing.
-Amery Police Department: $3,000 for a new mobile radio for a squad car. "We have one other radio that is digital compatible," Chief Thomas Marson said.
-Superior Fire Department: $145,900 for a 25-foot, jet-propelled boat to fight fires from the waters of Lake Superior.
-La Crosse County Sheriff's Department: $25,000 for an 18-foot Crestliner boat powered by a Mercury 150-horsepower engine. It gives the agency a second patrol boat, Capt. Mike Horstman said.
-Racine County Sheriff's Department: $18,052 for an inflatable nine-man boat with 40-horsepower Johnson motor. It joined a fleet of three boats and will be used mainly for "quick rescue type responses," Lt. John Hanrahan said.
-Marinette County Sheriff's Department: $17,899 to refurbish a surplus 24-foot Navy boat for port security and patrols on the Bay of Green Bay to replace an older craft that could not go too far onto the bay unless the weather was calm, Lt. Mike Yoder said.
The money was part of a $108,000 grant the sheriff's department got to also equip the old Navy work boat with sidescan sonar, allowing rescuers to see objects under water.
-Adams County: $35.30 for five rolls of duct tape in a $25,000 project to establish and equip a decontamination and mass casualty trailer. "Duct tape attaches protective gloves to protective suits. It creates a protective barrier so chemicals cannot go up your sleeve. It is a very crucial attachment," said Jane Grabarski, the county's emergency management director.
-Oconto County: $33,600 for medical jump kits for first responders to emergencies, such as ambulance attendants, firefighters and deputy sheriffs, and some sterile and non-sterile dressings.
-Buffalo County Emergency Management: $12,950 for an emergency rescue boat, the first one for the agency.
"We are on the river. We have a lot of traffic. If something were to happen, we have to prepared," county administrator Bruce Cornish said.
-Kenosha Regional Airport: $387,302 for a 10-foot high fence and more secure gates for gaining access to the airport. Besides tighter security, the new fence "also helps us with some deer problems we had," airport Manager Wade Buck said.
-Baraboo-Dells Municipal Airport near Baraboo: $340,000 for about five miles of new fencing and gates.
-Wausau Downtown Airport: $311,442 for a new 10-foot fence and card-activated gates. It replaces a 4-foot fence that had circled about 40 percent of the airport, airport Manager John Chmiel said. Plans were in the works to replace the shorter fence before Sept. 11, 2001, he said. The federal grant program helped put up the higher fence soon as part of a nearly $1 million project, he said.
"We had problems with vandalism. Since the security fence has been up, vandalism has been eliminated. Terrorists don't necessarily have to wear certain clothes or look a certain way," Chmiel said.
-Spooner City Hall: $5,100 for a keyless entry security system that includes motion detectors. The federal money paid less than half of the $12,200 cost of the improvement, which had been sought initially because of concerns about vandalism in the police department, city clerk Barb Daniels said.
-Eau Claire County Sheriff's Department: $3,600 for 16 Gore-Tex coats to protect SWAT team members in extreme cold weather.
-Rusk County Sheriff's Department: $3,059 for 12 Olympus digital cameras and $2,108 for 20 Olympus digital records.
Every deputy now has better equipment to document scenes and gather statements, Sheriff Dave Kaminski said.
-Ladysmith Police Department: $1,054 for 10 Olympus digital recorders and $764 for three Olympus D580 digital cameras. They really help "enhance the accuracy and details" of the officers' work and reports, police Chief Dean Meyer said.
-Outagamie County Emergency Management: $700 for a Sony Cybershot DSC-F717 digital camera. An earlier model of the same camera that the agency had was then transferred to the county health department for use there, Emergency Management Director Bruce Sim said.
County health manager Melody Bockenfeld said getting a digital camera makes it easier to communicate evidence with the state when seeking advice and for better documentation. "We had been using a Polaroid camera. The pictures faded over time," she said.
-University of Wisconsin-Madison: $103,773 for front barrier wall at Kohl Center.
-Green Bay police: Six handheld wand-style metal detectors at $166.48 each, total $998.88, to screen fans entering Packers football games at Lambeau Field and for other events.
-Rice Lake: $348,994 for fence and surveillance at airport.
-Airport near Sheboygan: $48,550 for a new aircraft tug - a tractor-like device that hooks up to airplanes to move them on the ground.
-La Crosse Fire Department: $150,000 for a multipurpose jet boat, aimed at helping to respond to terrorism-related, manmade or natural disasters, as well as $110 for 21 name tags to be sewn on a new rescue team's uniforms.
-Hillsboro School District: $75,000 for a new video surveillance system for the high school.
Sources: Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance, local governments.
I think the fuel cell nailer would be fun to have, but I'd go for the boat.
At some point it will be cheaper to saturation nuke the Islamic world...
And what good would it do to leave all that money just sitting around???
some of that stuff seems pretty useful, just not for security purposes...
Huh. I could see where all of it could be decurity related.
Security related too:')
Also depends on who is paying for it. These all sound like local items, to be paid for by local taxpayers, without federal involvement. The only way we'll know if LaCrosse's $150m boat is too expensive is to let LaCrosse pay for it.
It all sounds useful.
I laughed that pencils were included. I worked at a place once where, when all was said and done, we were budgeted 13 cents for office supplies:')
$6 for a roll of duct tape? They should have shopped at Costco.
What, no one tried to sneak in Packers tickets?
Oh yeah? Well, we bought garbage trucks.
So there!
Sounds expensive? That is an understatement! Did you see this one?
'Adams County: $35.30 for five rolls of duct tape'
How large a roll though? Hubby says he pays about 4 for regular rolls.
That article didn't say how big the rolls were.
I just did a few searches on supplier sites though and I'm having a hard time coming up with anything that goes over what your husband says he pays.
Well they might want to look at that then. I was thinking it might be some kind of industry tape. The good thing is that you don't see sports cars, and vacations on the list.
Must be the 100 MPH stuff (like they use in NASCAR).
:)
That's if it is a complete list ;)
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