Replies

from Maryland Gazette

Mayor long objected to 'Genesis' plan
E-Mail This Article

by Robert Schroeder
Staff Writer

Feb. 12, 2004
Frederick Mayor Jennifer P. Dougherty (D) objected more than a year ago to a plan designed to convert the Great Frederick Fair grounds into a mass casualty and decontamination center, she said Wednesday.

"We have a whole, big city to keep safe," Dougherty said in an interview, describing how the plan -- drafted by Frederick County Sheriff James W. Hagy and others in a group called the Nuclear Subcommittee -- would overwhelm Frederick police.

The emergency plan, called the Genesis Project, was first described in the Feb. 8 edition of The Washington Post as a secret document shown to more than 75 people, including state and local officials, some of whom criticized the contents. The plan envisions the Frederick fair grounds being used to treat refugees from a regional city such as Washington, D.C., or Baltimore in the event of a terrorist attack.

Dougherty said the logistics of having Frederick's police secure both the fairgrounds site and Frederick Memorial Hospital would be "staggering."

Frederick Police Chief Kim C. Dine said he had seen concepts of the plan to use the fairgrounds, but questioned where resources, equipment and funding for the plan would come.

"All those questions need to be answered ..." he said.

Hagy said in an interview he could neither confirm nor deny plans to use the fair grounds as a site, but did say he and others have drawn up treatment, triage, decontamination and transfer plans in the event of a weapons of mass destruction attack.

"I can't tell the public our entire plan because I'd be telling the terrorists at the same time," he said.

But Hagy, acknowledging the spotlight shone on the Genesis Project by the disclosure of parts of the plan, said that he will "fairly soon" ready a version for public inspection. On Feb. 19, he said, he will brief leaders of county municipalities about the Genesis Project.

"I'm forced to take it to the public a little sooner than I wanted to," Hagy said.

The sheriff also defended his group's efforts and said "no one has come up with a better plan. I can't make everyone happy."

The genesis plan is being hotly debated among residents of Frederick.

Copyright © 2004 The Gazette - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Privacy Statement