NYT,pg1:Govs Tell of War's Impact on Local Needs(severe manpower shortage)

[DeepModem Mom]

Lead story today:


Governors Tell of War's Impact on Local Needs
By SARAH KERSHAW

Published: July 20, 2004


SEATTLE, July 19 - With tens of thousands of their citizen soldiers now deployed in Iraq, many of the nation's governors complained on Sunday to senior Pentagon officials that they were facing severe manpower shortages in guarding prisoners, fighting wildfires, preparing for hurricanes and floods and policing the streets.

Concern among the governors about the war's impact at home has been rising for months, but it came into sharp focus this weekend as they gathered for their four-day annual conference here and began comparing the problems they faced from the National Guard's largest callup since World War II. On Sunday, the governors held a closed-door meeting with two top Pentagon officials and voiced their concerns about the impact both on the troops' families and on the states' ability to deal with disasters and crime.

Much of the concern has focused on wildfires, which have started to destroy vast sections of forests in several Western states. The governor of Oregon, Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat, said in an interview after meetings here Monday that the troop deployment had left his National Guard with half the usual number of firefighters because about 400 of them were overseas while a hot, dry summer was already producing significant fires in his state....

***

While Western governors focused mostly on wildfires, governors and other officials from other regions expressed a host of other worries, both at the meeting here and in telephone interviews. In Arizona, officials say, more than a hundred prison guards are serving overseas, leaving their already crowded prisons badly short-staffed. In Tennessee, officials are worried about rural sheriff's and police departments, whose ranks have been depleted by the guard call- up. In Virginia, the concern is hurricanes; in Missouri, floods. And in a small town in Arkansas, Bradford, both the police chief and the mayor are now serving in Iraq, leaving their substitutes a bit overwhelmed....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/national/20guard.html

[truthisfreedom]

1. thanks, bush! another brilliant result of your "georgie's gotta have it"

war!

[Don_G]

2. He's Taken Half The Police And EMT's

In several small Kentucky cities. People like that can't be replaced with temporary workers.

[Hekate]

3. Thanks DeepModem -- I've been trying to tell my ultraconservative cuz

about this dilemma. My cuz is a good egg, but he's spent most of his whole career outside the US working for the government. He sees Big Picture. I see Small Picture because I see city and county governments struggling. This NYT article will be passed along to several folks.

Hekate

[yardwork]

4. I raised this concern on another board and was shot down by a freeper

I'm sorry to learn that I was right to be concerned. We're now entering the height of hurricane season and forest fire season.

Before our troops are returned to us, we are liable to face a lot of natural disasters with reduced manpower.

I hope it helps bring home to people some of the true costs of this stupid war. At the same time, I hope that people don't suffer or die because of this.

[DBoon]

7. Let this freeper protect his own house against the fire

with no assistance.

Kind of reminds me of an Onion article about a Libertarian who is forced to call the fire department before his house burns down. A real moral dilemma for him...

[area51]

5. a "severe manpower shortage",

at a time millions of Americans are unemployed & can't find work no matter how hard they try. Ironic. Next thing you know, this nazi administration will use this as an excuse to bring in even more H1-Bs and L-1s.

[grytpype]

6. America is safer! America is safer!

Stronger too!