Rockwood Municipal airport adds security with federal grants

Rockwood airport adds security with federal grants
WATE, TN  
 
March 24, 2004


ROCKWOOD (WATE) -- Airports in large cities aren't the
only ones getting homeland security money for
important upgrades. Federal dollars are also helping
the Rockwood Municipal Airport. 

Rockwood Municipal hosts more than 40 flights a day.
At a 15 minute flight from K-25, the Kingston steam
plant and the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, the airport's
in Roane, Morgan and Cumberland counties. And it's
also beside the Central Time zone. 

Dave Stevenson has been flying for 40 years, the last
few at the Rockwood Airport. He's seen a lot of
improvements over the years. 

One of the best, he says, is extra security. "You just
feel a little more comfortable. You know that
somebody's not going to break in your airplane or
vandalize it or steal some radios." 

Rockwood Municipal is one of several small East
Tennessee airports granted homeland security dollars
through the state Department of Transportation. 

In 2003, $10,000 in grant money paid to fence off a
once wide open path to the runway and planes. 

"You could just walk right to the airport, walk
directly to the fuel farm, and it wasn't contained
with fencing whatsoever," said airport manager Danny
Collins. "But now that we have the fencing and
everything in place, we feel quite secure." 

And $20,000 in grant money bought Rockwood Municipal
10 cameras, giving it 360-degree coverage, 24-hours a
day. The airport manager can even take his work home
with him by monitoring the cameras on the Internet. 

If an intruder broke through a protected area at the
airport, Collins would get an audible warning on his
home computer. He hasn't gotten one yet and said he
hopes he never does. "I mean, we don't feel threatened
by any means. But we feel like it's definitely a good
asset to the community to have a secure airport." 

In July, Rockwood Municipal will be eligible for
another federal homeland security grant of $50,000.
Managers hope to buy eight more security cameras and
put up additional fencing and lighting around the
parking lot and terminal building. 

Other small airports that received homeland security
grants in East Tennessee since last year are the
Monroe County Airport in Madisonville, airports in
Oneida and Jacksboro and the Downtown Island Airport
in Knoxville. 


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