By LYNN WINTHROP

            The Deep East Texas Council of Government's Executive Board on Thursday approved a Regional First Responders Preparedness Plan for 
            its 12-county region, which includes Angelina and Nacogdoches counties. 

            Mandated by Gov. Rick Perry's office in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the plan is intended to provide a framework by 
            which local governments can effectively respond to a weapons of mass destruction threat in the East Texas area. 
            A task force made up of elected officials, emergency management coordinators, volunteer fire departments and public works officials 
            devised the plan, which will be delivered to the governor's office on Saturday. Objectives included assessing the current and future 
            resource needs of area first responders to a potential weapon of mass destruction or other mass casualty event. 
            The group attempted to prioritize the region's needs — such as strategies, equipment, communications, training and preparedness 
            exercises — in anticipation of federal funding for homeland security programs. 

            DETCOG Executive Director Walter Diggles said that in authorizing the regional plans well before the federal government adopts its own 
            homeland security programs, Gov. Perry's intent was to make Texas a model for first responders nationwide. He said that by cooperating 
            and working quickly, Deep East Texas was now "ahead of the curve" when it came to homeland defense. 
            "This has been one of the quickest plan processes we've had to undertake," Diggles said. "The task force put in a tremendous amount 
            of work over the last month. We've had a very quick turnaround in assessing our region's needs, and we realize now that a lot more 
            attention will be placed on first responders." 

            Van Bush, DETCOG regional 911 and emergency services director, said that due to a poor economy and a low tax base, no region in the 
            state is in greater need of state and federal funding than Deep East Texas. Since locally generated funding will be hard to come by, Bush 
            stressed the importance prioritizing requests for state and federal funds. 

            Clay Kennelly, regional liaison officer for the Texas Department of Public Safety's Emergency Management Service, applauded not only the 
            task force for its efforts, but local governments for their cooperation, saying, "We're probably the only district in this state 
            to have 100 percent compliance." Kennelly said that in the event of an attack, the plan will be crucial during those first few hours 
            before the state can provide assistance. 

            "Realistically, it will be 8-12 hours before a state agency can get involved," Kennelly said. "The powers that be made a decision to 
            give local governments and entities the ability to survive and protect public safety until that help arrives." 
            DETCOG's service area includes more than 9,900 square miles, with a population of around 360,000 people. The task force identified 
            several unique issues facing the region, including a large number of highway corridors, area dams and reservoirs, national forests and 
            poultry and food production facilities. There are also nine state prisons, miles of pipelines, gasoline storage facilities and miles 
            of railroads in the region. \
            In fact, the Deep East Texas area contains nine of the targets identified by the FBI as areas of concern, including energy, oil and 
            gas, water, telecommunications, banking and financial institutions, transportation, emergency services and continuity of government. The 
            area is also a major evacuation route from Houston and Beaumont.  In outlining the obvious list of first responder needs in the 
            region, Bush said addressing inadequate communication equipment and procedures should be the top priority. Lack of training and 
            exercises for the region's emergency service providers, including primarily an all-volunteer group of rural fire departments, should 
            also be a major concern. Inadequacy of equipment, lack of coordinated control, limited availability of hazardous materials 
            teams and covering a large region with few population centers were also deficiencies the task force found. 

            The plan lays out several goals that need to be accomplished before the region can effectively respond to any sort of major terrorist 
            attack, including developing sound response plans, improving the emergency communications infrastructure, obtaining training and 
            building skills through regular exercises, securing more support equipment and coordinating planning and funding activities. The plan 
            also calls for strategically locating specialized teams, such as HazMat, search and rescue and EMS trauma teams, in multiple areas of 
            the region. 

            Tyler County Judge Jerome Owens said he was proud of the effort extended to pull the plan together, but realized that it "only 
            scratches the surface," and that more needs will be identified later. Still, he said it's an important step, and one that needed to 
            be made.  "This will get us to the starting line," Owens said. "The race has  yet to be run, but you have to at least be on the starting line."