Plum Island Gets Federal Security Support
Jul 7, 2004 11:29 am US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) The Department of Homeland Security reportedly agreed to patrol Plum Island Animal Disease Center to supplement private security at the facility, which is considered a potential terrorist target.
Federal Protective Service officers, who have legal authority to make arrests and receive specialized information about threats, began guarding the island three weeks ago, Newsday reported Wednesday.
Officers with the agency had been temporarily assigned to guard the facility off the coast of Long Island for periods in the past few years, but none were permanently stationed there.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, public officials and others have raised questions about security at the facility after a report by the General Accounting Office identified security gaps there.
The Department of Homeland Security took over operations on the island from the Department of Agriculture on June 1, 2003.
The contractor has been replaced and Agriculture Department scientists are now responsible only for laboratory research.
Researchers at the facility study contagious animal diseases like foot-and-mouth disease and African swine fever.
http://1010wins.com/topstories/winstopstories_story_189113046.html
Fire, Fumes Prompt Hotel Evacuation
POSTED: 12:12 pm EDT July 7, 2004
UPDATED: 12:16 pm EDT July 7, 2004
NEWARK, N.J. -- Fumes from a transformer fire sickened some guests and prompted the evacuation of the Best Western hotel in Newark Wednesday morning.
A fire department spokesman says carbon monoxide from the fire made some guests nauseous. About
15 to 20 people were taken to area hospitals as a precaution.
About 20 rooms above the basement site of the fire were most affected. But the fire department spokesman says the entire 80-room, six-floor hotel near Newark Liberty International Airport was evacuated as a precaution.
The fire was extinguished shortly after the alarm.
http://www.wnbc.com/news/3502217/detail.html
Looks like the bosses on Plum island are reading T.M..
LOL
Glad they are listening to the grannies who worry.
Thanks for catching this one, hope they are on the alert for the divers also.