DURHAM MAYOR - Seeks Triangle terror summit

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Durham mayor seeks Triangle terror summit By ERIC OLSONand JOE ENGLERT : The Herald-Sun emo@herald-sun.com Oct 30, 2001 : 10:37 pm ET

DURHAM -- Local authorities are cooperating more than ever across jurisdictional lines to combat the bioterrorism threat.

On Tuesday, Durham Mayor Nick Tennyson called for a meeting of city managers, law enforcement and other agencies across the Triangle to help cement those ties, address any gaps in preparedness and inform residents of the progress being made.

"One of the functions of this conference is to deliver information," Tennyson said at a news conference at City Hall. "Not any sort of glossing over, but to make it clear that we do talk to each other, we do work across county boundaries."

Tennyson, who faces re-election Tuesday, said he would like the group of local leaders to meet within the next few weeks.

Since Oct. 15, the Durham police have received 93 calls involving suspicious packages, according to a report provided by police. Police also have responded to 29 different bomb threats in the Bull City since Sept. 11.

"The key message is that we need to, without telling tales, without trying to make things up, deliver the message to people that we are dealing with these challenges and we continue to work to make sure we can deal with them in the future," Tennyson said.

On Monday, the Shannon Road post office was evacuated for more than four hours after suspicions grew over a box mailed from Mexico to an incorrect post office box in Durham.

Although the box was nothing more than a care package of baked and other goods, the incident and others like it have given the Durham County Sheriff’s Office, Durham police and fire departments and others a chance to "practice" handling potential bioterrorism calls, Tennyson said.

"The good news is, of course, that those have all been false alarms and that practice has allowed for our emergency service personnel and our health department and others to begin to work together and have protocols they follow to deliver the best service they can," Tennyson said.

In a special meeting Monday, the City Council approved spending nearly $100,000 in federal grant money to equip police with 96 biohazard suits and roughly 280 state-of-the-art gas masks.

With the new equipment, all 476 Durham police officers will have a gas mask, and each one will be specially fitted to each officer.

Lt. Col. Steve Chalmers of the police department said getting the new biohazard equipment was the department’s top priority in light of the dozens of suspicious packages reported in Durham. He said the FBI has recommended police departments nationwide purchase additional biohazard equipment.

Erick Larson, chairman of the City Council Finance Committee, said the new equipment filled an "immediate and urgent" need.

"We can’t send the people on the front lines to work with handkerchiefs to their mouths," he said.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2001


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