Borough gets $100K
for homeland security
BY MATTHEW AUERBACH
Staff Writer
METUCHEN — Residents can rest a little easier now that the borough has received $100,000 for homeland security measures.
Metuchen was one of three towns in Middlesex County that received a grant for the specific purpose of paying for domestic-preparedness equipment.
It will take a while to figure out how the money will be broken down, officials said. That is a matter Mayor Edmund O’Brien and Police Chief James T. Keane will decide.
Borough officials said they are fairly certain that an upgrade to the borough’s telecommunications systems will be paid for with the funds.
"This will ensure new enhanced antennae for our public service agencies," said O’Brien.
Councilman Rick Dyas said his concern was making sure the police were not left short-handed.
"We can use the money very well to protect our citizens. We’re only 25 miles from New York City. We’re not really the suburbs. Anything that happens there, we’re going to feel it. Now our police can get the equipment they really need, like gas masks," Dyas said.
The possibility of a terrorist attack in the area has been considered before. Earlier this year, Spotswood’s Schweitzer-Maudit plant, which uses the highly toxic chemical chlorine to manufacture cigarette paper, was listed in news reports as No. 6 in the top 10 potential terrorist sites in the greater New York-New Jersey metropolitan area.
The homeland security grant was allocated through the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General under the 2004 Statewide Local Domestic Preparedness Equipment grant program.