"WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION" TRAINING COURSE

A group of local first responders are going through a three day training course about a topic that might surprise you..theyre learning about "Weapons of Mass Destruction". "Our goal is to come out to cities like Dothan and help you prepare for incidents we now know are possible," says instructor Ken Johnson. Johnson is an instructor with the Texas Engineering Exstension Service. They received a grant from the Office of Domestic Prepardness and the United States Department of Homeland Security, which he says enables them to travel all over and teach the course for free. "We received a grant to put together training, they gave us certain ideas as to what they want. We put together courses and travel to areas, all by grant, and provide training specific for what is needed here but also general enough for the federal government," says Johnson. Were taking as many diferent professions as we can get together. In this particular case,we have law enforcement, the Dept of Forensics,and we pull them together to show them how to interact with each other during a time of disaster," says Johnson. Members of the class believe its well worth the time. "Its going very good. Were doing a lot of training and it will be great to be able to apply or help if we ever need to respond to such an incident," says Charles Finney. Johnson says the training is going very well, thanks to the amount of participation involved. He says it`s when you get the right people in the class, who really care for their community,the class succeeds. This can leave you feeling at ease, knowing that your officials will be ready if disaster should strike. JANA JACOBS WDHN 18