ANTI-TERROR GRANTS SOUGHT; VENTURA COUNTY SEEKING JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FUNDS.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

With the discovery of pipe bombs and other explosives becoming more commonplace, Ventura County has requested nearly $248,000 from the U.S. Justice Department to help combat the threat of domestic terrorism.

Authorities discovered live devices in about 60 percent of the 160 bomb calls to which they responded in the east county in 1997, and about half of the 20 cases they have investigated in the past six weeks.

``These may or may not have been terrorism devices, but we have to approach them as if they are,'' said Sandi Wells, a spokeswoman for the Ventura County Fire Control District.

The devices range from pipe bombs and surplus military explosives to illegal fireworks capable of causing serious damage and injury.

In creating the program last month, the Justice Department set aside $12 million and invited 120 jurisdictions nationwide to apply for $100,000 to $500,000 grants, based on population.

With nearly 800,000 people, Ventura County qualifies for a maximum of $250,000, said Mike Proett, assistant fire chief overseeing the south county area. The Justice Department is expected to announce the grant recipients in September.

The county proposes using the money to buy equipment such as gas masks, bomb suits and an inflatable decontamination tent to wash down those who have been exposed to harmful chemicals. The equipment also could be used in responding to hazardous materials spills and radiation leaks, officials said.

Within the past two month, authorities have responded to a variety of bomb calls, including:

May 24 - A pipe bomb on a Ventura Freeway on-ramp in Newbury Park.

June 8 - A bomb used to scare seals away from nets near a Ventura beach.

June 3 - A pipe bomb at Wood Ranch.

July 1 - A military cluster bomb dispenser, empty but containing an explosive charge in the casing, at the Simi Valley Landfill.

July 2 - Three decades-old munitions at the Rocketdyne Field Test Laboratory.

July 14 - Fireworks packing the equivalent of three-fourths a stick of dynamite at the Clarion Hotel in Simi Valley.

``Terrorism is now part of the picture,'' Proett said. ``That says our society's changing. You could say the risk is minimal, but you have to prepare for it just like anything else.''

Toward that end, 350 emergency personnel have just completed 12 hours of anti-terrorism work in the classroom and will undergo physical training later this year.

Officials also have identified local thoroughfares and landmarks that could be potential terrorism targets, including the Ventura, Santa Paula and Ronald Reagan freeways, Pacific Coast Highway, the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks and Port Hueneme.

``They would affect large volumes of people should they be put out of service,'' Proett said. ``The idea of terrorism is to draw attention to your cause, and you do so by causing the majority of the population to be inconvenienced.''