Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Half the county is without emergency radio coverage

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 00:09:36 -0500

Half the county is without emergency radio coverage
Elizabethtown News Enterprise, KY

By FORREST BERKSHIRE

Emergency workers' radios can't reach nearly half of Hardin County, and
officials are struggling to provide better reception.

"This has been an ongoing problem," said Louis Lawson, director of the
Hardin County E-911 center.

Lawson, who heads the county's dispatch center, presented a plan for
upgrading communications to the Hardin County Fire Service Advisory
Board last week and asked members for their support when he takes it to
county lawmakers.

The proposal calls for five antennas spread across the county and linked
to a new dispatch system that would increase coverage to 95 percent of
the county, at a cost estimated at $800,000. Other systems cost several
million dollars, Lawson said.

The plan was commissioned by an ad hoc communications committee set
up more than a year ago and developed by a communications firm already
servicing the county and an independent consultant.

The system would not completely replace the old dispatch system, so
small-budget agencies, such as volunteer fire departments, could still use
older radios and pagers and avoid the costs of updating their equipment.

The system would provide five channels and could be used by the sheriff's
office, volunteer fire departments and the county ambulance service.
Municipal police departments and the Kentucky State Police could also
patch into the system.

Lawson said three grants are being pursued to cover at least some of the
cost of the system, but the county would probably have to come up with
part of the funding.

Emergency workers from across of the county attended Lawson's
presentation, telling the board of frustrating and pieced-together
communications systems, such as the county ambulance service, which
must use Bluegrass and Nextel cell phone services in areas of the county
that radios can't reach.

Hardin County Sheriff Charlie Williams also spoke of the need for better
communications for his deputies, who travel across Kentucky's
fourth-largest county on everything from serving arrest warrants to
responding to domestic violence calls. He said communications for police
and fire services is a lifeline.

"You're going to have to pay now, or you're going to have to pay later,"
Williams said.

"It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when someone's going to get
hurt."

Hardin County Fiscal Court has yet to schedule the plan for discussion.

Forrest Berkshire can be reached at 769-1200, Ext. 240, or e-mail him
at [email-masked].

 http://www.newsenterpriseonline.com/articles/2004/02/17/news/news1.txt

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