DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Some of Iowa's smaller counties are not participating in the state's homeland security plan because they feel safe or they think urban areas will be favored, the Des Moines Sunday Register reported in a copyright story.
The past spring, three southwestern counties were disqualified from receiving $227,000 for police and firefighters in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks because they failed to have a proper emergency-response plan in place.
The Register also reported that other rural counties have been no-shows at planning meetings, or have threatened to pull out of talks with their larger counterparts, assuming that their time will be wasted when debating projects and equipment purchases with their urban neighbors.
``Basically, my county told me, if we're not going to get anything out of this, don't play,'' said Hardin County Emergency Management coordinator Doug Riggs.
A top official in Adams County, the state's least populous, said he never was concerned enough about terrorism to pursue the money, especially given his part-time staff and the paperwork demands.
``We're in danger of getting hit by deer out here more than terrorists,'' said Mark Olive, chairman of the Adams County Board of Supervisors.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government has awarded some $9 billion to first responders.
Over the past two years, counties in Iowa were allowed to spend their share of $49 million in homeland-security grants with little direction from federal officials.
The money paid for training programs, emergency equipment for mass-casualty events, and communications upgrades. But the state's arm's-length approach also led to a number of questionable purchases that have prompted some to say that the grants are wasted outside the nation's big cities and border areas.
A Des Moines Register analysis of state records last spring uncovered local orders for thousands of dollars in traffic cones, underwater cameras, tornado sirens and hidden-camera wall clocks. Similar reports have turned up in other states.
``It certainly is turning into a pork fest,'' said Samuel Popkin, a political science professor at University of California-San Diego. ``From what I can tell, there's been nothing sent out to the states notifying them of what they must do, what they can't do. It's left to the locals to guess.''
But Iowa leaders expect to head off that problem next year with a radical plan to distribute homeland-security grants to regions, rather than individual counties. Under the regional model, counties will have to work through spending decisions as a group, which, in theory, should encourage teamwork and dissuade officials from frivolous spending.
``What we want to do is make smarter decisions,'' said Iowa's homeland security director, David Miller. ``We're forcing the issue a little bit. It's controversial. We know that. Many have seen the grant program as an entitlement. It's not.''
Although the Iowa plan could have the effect of giving larger voting numbers to smaller counties, many have not even bothered to take a seat at the table.
Representatives of Greene and Carroll counties have yet to attend any of three meetings called by a 16-county region centered in Ames that must decide how to spend an estimated $2.2 million in homeland-security grants next year.
Members are debating whether to remove the two counties from consideration in their future plans.
Iowa's six county regions must report their proposed spending plans to the state by February.
