Dan Dunn

The Globe wrote earlier this week about a Homeland Security grant to Cheshire, MA. The town wanted a new firetruck, but instead got money for salaries – $626,000, to be more specific. The Globe cites that as 26 times the annual fire department budget. To put that in perspective, that would be like Arlington getting $16 million, but not being allowed to spend it on rebuilding firestations – personnel only, please!

I started several different paragraphs attempting to quantify and qualify how foolish the feds look and how little faith I have that my federal tax dollars are spent wisely, but they all fell short. Just read the Globe article, including these quality excerpts:

Asked about Cheshire’s grant, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Val Bunting said yesterday that the town “presented a multifaceted project proposal.” She said the grant could be spent over four years, but she would not elaborate .

Cheshire — the smallest town in Massachusetts to get a grant, but the recipient of the largest amount.

But now that that’s off the wish list, Sweet said he might use some of the money to recruit high school students. Or he might put some of the windfall into a marketing campaign to lure volunteers to Cheshire.

“It’ll be on billboards, TVs, and radio stations, and that kind of stuff,” he said. “We’ll have to spend it wisely.”