Janaury 25, 2002
Seneca County gets "Safe Community" grant
By Ryan Good
Staff Writer
rgood@advertiser-tribune.com
Thanks to a state grant, Seneca County will now be a "Safe Community."
The Seneca County Sheriff's Office applied for and received a $29,000 grant titled "Safe Communities" from the state to address injuries mostly related to traffic problems.
"When a crash occurs, it's not just law enforcement involved," Robert Wakefield, from the governor's office for highway safety, said Thursday morning at a kickoff breakfast at Shell Shuckers.
"Injury costs are enormous," Wakefield said, explaining that the 10 people who died in nine accidents in Seneca County in 2000 cost the community about $60 million dollars. He also explained that from 1997 to 1999, Seneca County ranked number one in the state in railroad crashes.
"You are the eyes and ears of what's going on out there," Wakefield told the group of law enforcement and community officials gathered at the breakfast.
The grant doesn't just cover traffic injuries either.
"We're looking at all unintentional injuries," Wakefield said. But, "traffic safety issues will be towards the top."
The Safe Communities program will help coordinate law enforcement offices with other local health organizations to streamline community-related efforts.
"The communication needs to be there," Wakefield said. "We also want you to look at injury data from the health department and from the emergency rooms."
He added that having the program helps in a pro-active approach to preventing injuries before they happen, and thus reducing the cost the community has to pay.
"It lowers expenditures," Wakefield said.
Currently there are 37 counties enrolled in the Safe Communities program, reaching about 70 percent of the state's population.
Sheriff Tom Steyer said a part-time employee has been hired with some of the grant money to work the program at the Sheriff's Office.