Jan 6, 2009 11:41 pm US/Eastern
Hard Hit Townsend Won't Get Ice Storm Fed Aid
TOWNSEND (WBZ) ―
As towns in the northcentral part of Massachusetts brace for another storm, some are getting bad news from the federal government.
Townsend town Manager Gregory Barnes says the federal government will not pay emergency aid to the town even though it was one of the hardest hit in the state. The reason, he says, is that Townsend happens to sit in the wrong county.
Even though it was crippled for nearly two weeks, other parts of Middlesex county were not.
Lunenberg and Fitchburg, which are right across the border, sit in Worcester County, which was declared a major disaster zone. As a result, as much as 75 percent of the damage the ice storm caused in those towns will be reimbursed by the Federal Government. The equally hard hit Townsend, will get nothing from the Feds.
"We are quite indignant about this," says Barnes. "For a community of 95 hundred residents, a quarter million dollars, which is what we estimate we could lose by not receiviing FEMA Federal assistance, is a lot of money."
He and managers in other communities outside of Worcester County plan to appeal to the state to help where the Federal government is not.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
