Congressman Chris Shays held a forum on regional emergency preparedness Friday. It was not encouraging. Among those attending Westport First Selectwoman Diane Farrell and Superintendent of Schools Elliott Landon.
Farrell told the gathering: “Please don’t hamper us for not having a county government. Look at us in the aggregate. When it comes to homeland security, we don’t see ourselves as individual municipalities.”
According to The Hour newspaper, some in the audience feared that, with the focus on police and fire departments, the role of schools, health departments, emergency medical personnel and hospitals was being ignored.
“We have thousands of kids under our jurisdiction for many days a year,” said Landon. He said issues such as how to deal with a situation where parents cannot reach their children, or staff cannot return home, must be examined.
