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APPROVED 6/18/02 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS CHATHAM COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PUBLIC FORUM MAY 2, 2002 The Orange County and Chatham County Board of Commissioners held a public forum on May 2, 2002 at 7:30 p.m. at the William Friday Center entitled, "Risks and Response: Nuclear Terrorism in the Triangle." ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Stephen H. Halkiotis, Margaret W. Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., and Alice M. Gordon CHATHAM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Gary Phillips and Commissioners Margaret Pollard, Bob Atwater, Rick Givens, and Carl Outz NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. 1. WELCOME Commissioner Brown welcomed everyone to the public forum. This public forum is to discuss the risks of nuclear terrorism in our region. A panel of experts was assembled in the field of nuclear safety, who join our own emergency management officials to engage in a frank, open discussion about the risks we face and possible methods to help reduce the potential danger of nuclear terrorism in the triangle area. The Shearon Harris Nuclear Plant, along with its spent nuclear storage facilities, makes it a tempting target for those with the means and the will to exploit it. After 9/11, we know that we have vulnerabilities. It is my hope that when we leave this public forum tonight, we have a better understanding of the risks we face and the level of preparation that will be required to help reduce and/or eliminate those risks. She recognized all of the elected officials in the audience. She read a note from Legislative Senator Wib Gulley expressing his regret that he could not attend. He supports this forum and the NC WARN risk reduction plan. She introduced Commissioner Halkiotis, who gave some opening remarks. 2. OPENING REMARKS Commissioner Halkiotis read a prepared statement and said that the thoughts were his and his only. Here in Orange County we believe in and practice free and open debate and we welcome citizen participation in the democratic process. This forum is an example of that process and I am delighted that everyone is in attendance. In the preface to Gordon Prang's classic, At Dawn We Slept—The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, it is clearly stated that the surprise attack on December 7, 1941 not only was a daring and brilliant naval operation, but it also heralded a turning point in history. I quote, "Pearl Harbor did not unfold with all of the inevitability of a Greek tragedy. The operation was not an act of God. The options on both sides of the Pacific were in human hands, not in the laps of the gods." I was not born when Pearl Harbor was attacked with the resulting loss of over 2,400 American military personnel and civilians, but I was in Hillsborough, North Carolina on September 11, 2001, enjoying a morning cup of coffee with our Chair Barry Jacobs when news reached us of the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC. The subsequent loss of over 3,000 lives in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and in the barren field in Pennsylvania delivered a cruel and unprecedented blow to