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Gabriella84
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http://news.kypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050622/NEWS02/506220365/1014
The bucolic and seemingly safe setting of a goat show turned into something far more sinister in Erlanger on Tuesday, when about 200 people participated in the Kentucky's first statewide agricultural terrorism exercise.
Emergency responders, public health and agricultural officials from 80 local, state and federal agencies met at Northern Kentucky University's Metropolitan Education and Training Services Center for the first part of a two-day agro-terrorism preparedness exercise.
The event was coordinated by the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security.
Andrew Cline, the agency's deputy director, said Kentucky's large rural population prompted program coordinators to center this exercise around agriculture. Likewise, he said since Kentucky is one of the nation's top five goat-producing states, setting the attack at a goat show seemed plausible.
The goats "have been infected with a bio-agent. ... Then, the infected goats are at the show and you have people come and look at the goats and pet the goats and then they go home," Cline said, summarizing the day's scenario.
"We try to focus on what really matters to Kentucky," he said, adding, "this is a perfect way to do it."
The bucolic and seemingly safe setting of a goat show turned into something far more sinister in Erlanger on Tuesday, when about 200 people participated in the Kentucky's first statewide agricultural terrorism exercise.
Emergency responders, public health and agricultural officials from 80 local, state and federal agencies met at Northern Kentucky University's Metropolitan Education and Training Services Center for the first part of a two-day agro-terrorism preparedness exercise.
The event was coordinated by the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security.
Andrew Cline, the agency's deputy director, said Kentucky's large rural population prompted program coordinators to center this exercise around agriculture. Likewise, he said since Kentucky is one of the nation's top five goat-producing states, setting the attack at a goat show seemed plausible.
The goats "have been infected with a bio-agent. ... Then, the infected goats are at the show and you have people come and look at the goats and pet the goats and then they go home," Cline said, summarizing the day's scenario.
"We try to focus on what really matters to Kentucky," he said, adding, "this is a perfect way to do it."
