Oklahoma officials defend Homeland Security funding

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Oklahoma officials are defending the amount of federal Homeland Security money that's being appropriated to states with small populations. <br/><br/>They say the 1995 Oklahoma

Sunday, December 26th 2004, 5:17 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Oklahoma officials are defending the amount of federal Homeland Security money that's being appropriated to states with small populations.

They say the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing proves that terrorism can happen anywhere.

A formula based on equality instead of risk was used to distribute most homeland-security grants. That angers officials in densely populated areas.

New Jersey Senator Jon S. Corzine says the formula's not acceptable for his heavily populated state. But Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security Director Kerry Pettingill says there's no way to predict the nation's most vulnerable areas.

Oklahoma, which ranks 28th in population and 31st in per-capita funding, received $17.69 per person in Homeland Security funds.