Rohrabacher gets Afghan honor

Paul Clinton

Afghan King Zahir Shah honored Rep. Dana Rohrabacher earlier this

week at a small ceremony in the country.

Shah handed Costa Mesa’s congressman a royal medallion for his

vocal, and public, support for his regime. Rohrabacher was one of few

congressional leaders who regularly spoke out against the Soviet

invasion of the country in the late 1970s, the repressive policies of

the Taliban regime and Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda training camps,

which have been linked to the Sept. 11 attacks.

“In our fight against the communists, the Taliban and Bin Laden,

you were with us when no one else was,” Shah said. “You will always

have the gratitude of the Afghan people and their king.”

Shah had been deposed by the Taliban, but returned to his

ceremonial post earlier this year after U.S. troops helped resistance

fighters overthrow the Taliban regime.

Rohrabacher, who won election to the new 46th District on Nov. 5,

spent three days visiting Afghanistan this week before the

Thanksgiving holiday.

He also met with Iraqi resistance leaders and with the United

Nations weapons inspectors before returning to his home district.

In meetings with Shah and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the

garrulous congressman promised that the United States would continue

to help stabilize their country, even with President George Bush

readying the military to depose Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Rohrabacher was one of the chief architects of the Afghanistan

Freedom Support Act of 2002, passed in the Senate on Nov. 14. The

legislation authorizes $3.3 billion in funding for Afghanistan over

the next four years in economic, political and humanitarian aid.

A GRANT FOR AIR

The city of Newport Beach is turning to the federal government for

aid to prepare for any terrorist attack.

The City Council, at its Tuesday evening meeting, accepted a

federal grant to help pay for equipment purchased by the city’s fire

department.

Fire Chief Tim Riley, earlier this year, bought several breathing

apparatuses. The department bought 19 such air bottles, which cost

$11,888.

Riley, with the council’s blessing, successfully tapped federal

grant money to pay for the purchase. The funding came from a Federal

Emergency Management Agency grant for that exact amount.

The agency provided funds from its “weapons of mass destruction”

grant program, which provides aid to communities working to “improve

their readiness to handle terrorist attacks” and other incidents

caused by biological or chemical weapons.

The council unanimously approved accepting the grant, which comes

from FEMA’s 2001-02 fiscal-year budget. The agency approved the fire

department’s grant application in August. The department has already

received the check.

GREEN COPS COMING?

Newport Coast’s county supervisor wants sheriff’s deputies to

pitch in to protect the environment.

Supervisor Tom Wilson, who represents the recently incorporated

area, has been working closely with the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department to implement a program to train deputies to cut down on

urban runoff.

Deputies will learn how to reduce the flow of harmful materials

and objects from entering local storm drains and reaching the ocean.