BY TOM HENRY BLADE STAFF WRITER
09/20/2000
Until Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, Toledo officials had done little to prepare this area for the possibility of a terrorist attack. That’s no longer the case. Efforts have been stepped up dramatically in the last two years, especially since the federal government began doling out millions of dollars to America’s 120 largest cities for terrorism training, officials said yesterday. Toledo, which ranks 62nd in population, has received grants of $150,000 and $100,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a $300,000 loan from the Justice Department. The grants stipulated that the money be used for operations, training, or equipment that could help the city prepare itself for a terrorist attack. Just last week, the city fire department was notified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that it will be receiving another $400,000. That money is earmarked for pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, and other supplies that could be used during such a disaster, Battalion Fire Chief Greg Locher said. "I have never in the fire business seen money flying at us like this," Chief Locher said. He and another battalion chief, Michael W. Wolever, are coordinators of the Toledo fire department’s domestic preparedness program, which is responsible for much of the metropolitan area’s terrorism training. Both made presentations yesterday at the second day of Ohio’s 24th annual Inland Spills Conference, being held through tomorrow at downtown Toledo’s Wyndham Hotel. Timothy O. Hickin, statewide supervisor of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s emergency response unit, said the conference agenda shows how much of a priority terrorism training has become. The conference, which traditionally has focused on accidental spills involving gasoline, oil, and industrial chemicals, has had a much stronger emphasis on terrorism training the past couple of years. This year’s agenda was the strongest ever in that area, Mr. Hickin said. An infusion of federal money has made that possible, as has public reaction after the two notorious bombings on U.S. soil and a terrorist attack in Tokyo, he said. Six people died and 1,000 were injured as a result of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, masterminded by Islamic radical Ramzi Yousef. Two years later, McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, killing 168 people and injuring dozens of others. That same year, a Japanese religious cult called Aum Shinrikyo unleashed deadly nerve gas in a Tokyo subway, killing a dozen people. Phil Wesley, a retired Toledo police sergeant who used to be in charge of the city’s emergency management program, said the conference offers a great chance for cross-training because it pulls together a number of agencies. Lectures have included information about how to handle reports of anthrax contamination, the deadly biological agent that has the potential of killing thousands of people after settling into their systems for two to six days. Anthrax scares have occurred throughout the United States. All have turned out to be hoaxes, although one earlier this year in East Liverpool, O., appeared to have been perhaps the most serious threat because of flu-like symptoms that a woman exhibited, according to Al McGinty, an FBI agent in Cleveland who coordinates investigations involving so-called "weapons of mass destruction" in northern Ohio. Ohio is one of only four states that have their own laboratory for detecting anthrax spores. The other 46 states must send their samples to federal laboratories in Atlanta or elsewhere, which can slow down results, Mr. McGinty said. A little-known anthrax scare occurred Feb. 11, 1999, at the Chrysler machining plant in Perrysburg Township. Eric Larson, Wood County emergency management director, said the plant was notified at 2:10 p.m. that day about a disgruntled employee who supposedly put anthrax in the factory’s duct work. The employee claimed to have planted the anthrax at 6 a.m., meaning that about 2,000 workers who had been in the plant had the potential of being exposed, Mr. Larson said. The company chose not to evacuate the building, he said. The incident was reported to local officials and as high as the governor’s office. But the media was not notified, Mr. Larson said. As one unidentified state official in the audience put it: "You don’t hear about a lot of these and that’s by design." There have been two anthrax scares in Toledo, both at abortion clinics. The most recent was Jan. 4 at the Planned Parenthood office, 1301 Jefferson Ave. A similar incident occurred at the Center for Choice, 16 North Huron St., in November, 1998. Dr. Ed San Miguel, a former Toledo physician, said it was appropriate to talk about anthrax at the conference. "Terrorism is an environmental hazard," he said. Among other things, officials could face moral and ethical decisions someday about what to do with the bodies of contaminated victims, he said.