St. Mary gets $400,000 in security grants

Entities in St. Mary Parish received over $400,000 of the $3.9 million in U.S. Department of Homeland Security grants awarded July 28 to Louisiana, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette.
The Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District received $209,100 and the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office was awarded $117,188.
Port of Morgan City officials do not yet know what items the port will receive from the grant, but hope to find out what they’ll get by next week, Port of Morgan City Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said.
St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Traci Landry said the grant money is part of the Port Security Grant Program, which is considered part of homeland security.
“We will be using the funds to purchase a vessel for the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Marine Division that will serve as a command post on water,” Landry said in an email.
“The boat will be used in responding to incidents that occur in areas that are inaccessible by land such as aircraft crashes and search and rescue operations. The command post on water will facilitate more efficient operations in remote areas.”
Also among the grants was $242,436 for three parishes under Operation Stonegarden to secure U.S. borders in states with land or water borders with $92,341 going to St. Mary Parish, the release stated.
St. Mary Parish Homeland Security Director Duval Arthur said the money under Operation Stonegarden will also go to the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office to pay the personnel to patrol the waterways.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com.