Local EOC director worries about terrorist alert

It goes back to the old tale of the "boy who cried wolf." Tommy Gibbons, director of Emergency Services for Dyersburg is worried the ebb and flow of Homeland Security alert levels is beginning to lull people into a state of complacency and, one day, the wolf could be real and standing at the front door.

On Dec. 21, the Tennessee Office of Homeland Security raised the Security Advisory System Threat condition to Orange, representing a high risk of terrorist activity. The risk-level change was "based on increased volume of credible intelligence and some of the highest indicators since 9-11."

The Tennessee Department of Safety placed all available Tennessee Highway Patrol and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division personnel on the roads to monitor activity statewide. Troopers and DVE officers were ordered to pay close attention to bridges, tunnels and overpasses as well as inspect any vehicles abandoned on the roads. Additional enhanced security measures included various checkpoints, roadblocks and inspections.

In response to this move, Gibbons this week raised the local level to Yellow for heightened alert and met with all city personnel involved with Dyersburg's terrorist alert plan.

But Gibbons has some real concerns. "I think people become complacent when you move the alert status back and forth too often. I trust that the people in charge on the national level have very credible evidence of danger before moving the status.

"Citizens and law enforcement personnel cannot allow themselves to become complacent in the war on terrorism," Gibbons asserted. "The truth is we depend upon our citizens to keep us informed of suspicious activity. I know the state office doesn't want rural areas to start thinking, 'It can't happen to us.'"

While risk of terrorist activity in small-town America might be lower than in a major urban area, Gibbons asked area citizens to be alert to suspicious behavior and report it to local police and sheriff's offices.

Gibbons anticipated the elevated alert status would last through early January.