Reno mayor urges preparedness

Tom Gardner

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2001 | 10:12 a.m.

RENO -- Mayor Jeff Griffin says Nevada can't consider itself too remote for a retaliatory strike and must anticipate any eventuality to avoid the tragic aftermath of terrorism.

"Preparedness right now is what I'm concerned with rather than responding to it," he said Tuesday.

Griffin, who heads or sits on three U.S. Conference of Mayors committees that deal with terrorism and law enforcement, will join officials from Reno, Sparks and Washoe County on Oct. 22 to review emergency procedures. He then will attend a national summit of mayors Oct. 24-25.

Griffin returned late Monday from Washington, where he was one of three mayors to attend the swearing-in of Tom Ridge as director of the Office of Homeland Security.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to the director. I was not able to elbow the secretary of state out of the way," Griffin said with a smile, adding he intends to speak with Ridge.

Griffin heads the Criminal and Social Justice Committee of the Conference of Mayors. He presided over May's gathering here of nine other mayors from small- and medium-sized cities in five Western states to discuss terrorism.

He said then and again Tuesday that he expects any future attack to be biological or chemical -- he considers the Oklahoma City bombing technically a chemical attack -- and he doubts it would be especially complex.

"If you think about it, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon weren't particularly sophisticated," he said.

Griffin said Nevada's megaresorts, most notably those in Las Vegas, could be targets.

"There are a lot of places in the state where there are large gatherings of people," he said.