Hinds County supervisors are applying for up to $1.6 million in federal grant money to replace the county's 67 emergency sirens. Supervisors Robert Graham, Peggy Calhoun, and George Smith visited U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson last week to discuss funding new sirens with a grant from the Department of Homeland Security. Graham is optimistic about their chances.
"By virtue of the fact that Mr. Thompson is a resident of Hinds County, and this directly affects him, as well as all other citizens, I believe that our chances are pretty good," he said Friday.
The Clarion-Ledger has reported that seven of the county's sirens are currently not working. Many of the county's sirens are over 50 years old; in addition, some were never repaired after damage from Hurricane Katrina, and some have been raided for copper. Graham told the Jackson Free Press today that supervisors are looking into the possibility that even more are not working than had been reported earlier.
Previous Comments
- ID
- 118779
- Comment
I truly hope that goes through. We've been living on the edge for some time now, and the April 4 tornadoes should be a wake-up call that we need those sirens. Too bad that the disaster declaration didn't go through.
- Author
- LatashaWillis
- Date
- 2008-04-21T09:06:30-06:00
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