TERRORISM Lieutenant governor of Ohio urges vigilance against all threats

Maureen O'Connor chairs two state panels working to address security issues and respond to emergency situations.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Federal and state authorities investigating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks must not forget that other threats to safety exist, said Lt. Gov. Maureen O'Connor, Ohio's point person on security issues.
"We can't afford to concentrate 100 percent on [the Sept. 11] case and put the others on the back burner," O'Connor said Friday during a meeting with writers from The Vindicator. "We still have to focus on the Ohio militia and the Timothy McVeigh and the Terry Nichols types," referring to the Oklahoma City bombers.
Of course, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks remain the FBI's No. 1 counterterrorism priority, she said, and the investigation could lead to other illegal activities and potential threats on the nation.
"This investigation is turning over stones and uncovering other areas of concern," she said. "It's not just terrorism, but other illegal activities. This is a huge job; a challenge and a test bigger than we've had before."
Ohio has taken steps to increase security and to ferret out potential terrorist or violent organizations, said O'Connor, who heads two committees: the Ohio Building Security Review Committee and the Interagency Task Force on Ohio Security. The two groups' primary responsibilities are to develop state plans to address security issues and to develop emergency plans.
Unpredictable acts: O'Connor acknowledges that terrorists' hijacking commercial airplanes and crashing them into New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., was unimaginable before Sept. 11 and that no amount of planning can guarantee that similar attacks will never happen. But state officials are doing all they can to make Ohio safe, she said.
She also cautioned against believing that those involved in the terrorist attacks have more power than they actually have.
"I don't want to attribute more strength and ability to this group than is realistic," she said. "At the most, there's maybe 1,000 people in America who are terrorists."
There are also no people from Ohio on the federal terrorist watch list, she said.
O'Connor added she does not expect civil liberties to be taken from people as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Advice: People should be more aware of their surroundings, and if they see someone buying large arsenals of weapons or numerous pairs of night-vision glasses or visiting the local gardening store to buy a lot of fertilizer, they should contact law enforcement authorities to investigate, O'Connor said.
O'Connor, who has traveled on airplanes since Sept. 11, said she is surprised that airport security remains inconsistent. She has seen some travelers go through strict security checks while others pass through X-ray machines without any scrutiny from security.
skolnick@vindy.com