Worcester airport has security, but no flights WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) =97 A state commission has awarded the little-used=20 Worcester Regional Airport $213,800 for security, even though the airport=20 no longer provides any commercial passenger service. Rep. John Binienda,=20 D-Worcester, said the grant by the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission was= =20 an investment in a regional asset that he was optimistic would someday be=20 revitalized. "You're thinking toward the future, and the private jets there= =20 now could be a (security) problem," he told the Telegram & Gazette of=20 Worcester. "Everything's in place. All we need is airlines and passengers."= =20 He also said: "There's a lot of problems in the world, and we have to make= =20 sure our airport is safe, even if it is now only for privately owned=20 planes. People want to fly out of a safe place. If we had a disaster up=20 there, it would kill it for sure." USAirways was the last to leave the=20 airport, pulling out in March. The federal Transportation Security=20 Administration has transferred its security workers =97 and most of its=20 equipment =97 to other airports. Ann E. Davis, a spokeswoman for the TSA,=20 told the newspaper that the federal agency no longer considered the airport= =20 a security threat because it had no commercial flights. "We consider=20 Worcester a general aviation airport," Davis said. "If airlines wanted to=20 use Worcester, we'd definitely come back. We'd have to." The money will be used for a computerized gate system to control access to= =20 the runways and to install lighting in the general aviation section of the= =20 airport, which is used by small private planes. "There's a need for=20 security at the airport even though they don't have commercial service,"=20 said Robert Mallard, executive director of the aeronautics commission.=20 "It's stuff they'll need anyway." The money comes mostly from the Federal=20 Aviation Administration, which provided 90% of the grant =97 $192,420. The= =20 rest is from the state. The recent round of security grants, which also=20 went to six other airports, is part of a $15 million expenditure on=20 security equipment at smaller Massachusetts airports since Sept. 11, 2001.= =20 Officials at the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs the airport,=20 welcomed the grant, saying the money would help secure the small plane=20 area. "It's still a very active field," said Jose Juves, a Massport= spokesman. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.carib-link.net/naparima/naps.html TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************