Gov. Bill Owens has hired a new state homeland security coordinator with broad national security credentials. Fran Santagata begins her new duties in Colorado on May 31, serving as the liaison between the governor’s office and at least nine state agencies responsible for security and natural disasters. She now works for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Domestic Preparedness in Washington. The former state coordinator, Kristin Corash, a budget and policy adviser to the governor, has moved to the community college system to work with system chief Nancy McCallin.
The new hire comes at a time when Owens has been criticized by lawmakers in both parties for failing to adequately coordinate the state’s homeland security efforts – at least in a manner understandable to the public. Lawmakers are discussing the possibility of introducing legislation next year to create a state department of homeland security, in opposition to the governor’s wishes. Owens spokesman Dan Hopkins says Colorado doesn’t need more bureaucracy. He points to a new emergency command center monitoring and coordinating response efforts statewide. Perhaps Santagata can help ease some of the confusion.
Not-so hazardous waste
Shipments of hazardous waste through Colorado could double this summer from roughly six per week to 15 or more as clean-up continues at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state. The shipments are bound for a federal repository in New Mexico where Rocky Flats waste also resides. The state patrol has set up new backup systems that will monitor the cargo from the moment it crosses into Colorado until it leaves the state.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Lance Clem said the shipments are tightly scheduled and tracked in real time using global positioning technology. “Safe havens” have been designated along the routes in the event of mechanical problems or potential threats. If the waste-laden trucks enter a safe haven – or make any unscheduled stop – state troopers will respond quickly. Clem said the cargo will consist mainly of low-level radioactive waste such as clothing and equipment left over from nuclear weapons production and contaminated with plutonium and hazardous chemicals. The shipments do not contain spent fuel rods or other highly dangerous material, said Clem. That’s good to know.
Curbing underage drinking
Colorado Liquor Enforcement Division officers will descend on college towns this summer to lay the groundwork for a campaign to combat underage drinking on campus. Division chief Matt Cook said that in light of recent tragedies at CU and CSU, he pursued and obtained $350,000 from the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to launch a compliance program aimed at eliminating sales to minors.
CU and CSU each had a student die last year from alcohol poisoning. The deaths led to several changes aimed at curtailing alcohol abuse and to proposals in the state legislature to toughen penalties for underage drinking. One bill awaiting the governor’s signature would require the Division of Motor Vehicles to suspend for at least six months the driver’s license of an adult convicted of providing alcohol to a minor or of allowing a minor to use their I.D. to buy booze. Seems like a reasonable idea.
Cook said the program will involve working with campus organizations as well as off-campus liquor retailers. The Liquor Enforcement Division will ask colleges if they want to participate. “The hope is that working together we can get something done rather than wielding the enforcement ax,” said Cook. Given the problem, a little wielding wouldn’t hurt.
Problems “whisked” away
Secretary of State Donetta Davidson says Colorado taxpayers will save $100,000 a year when her office moves from its present location at 16th and Broadway to 17th and Broadway. The current lease is $875,646 a year. The move, scheduled for June 20, will also fix computer problems caused by “zinc whiskers” growing on steel floor plates.
Julia C. Martinez (jmartinez@denverpost.com) is a member of The Denver Post editorial board.
